Los Angeles Sparks win No.1 pick in 2012 Draft lottery
The WNBA held its lottery to determine the top four picks in the 2012 WNBA Draft today in New York. Â Los Angeles won the first pick among the top four contenders followed by the Chicago Sky, the Minnesota Lynx and the Tulsa Shock.
Tulsa ended the season at 3-31, the worst record in the league. Los Angeles had a final record of 15-19 and the Sky was 14-20.
Minnesota, the reigning WNBA champions, had a 27.6 percent chance of landing the top pick because it obtained the first round pick of Washington (6-28) after trading forward/center Nicky Anosike to the Mystics two days prior to the 2011 Draft. The Lynx won the lottery last year and selected Maya Moore, the 2011 No. 1 overall pick in the draft.
WNBA officials and a representative from the accounting firm of Ernst & Young conducted the lottery. The order of selection for the remainder of the first round as well as the second and third round is determined by inverse order of regular-season records from 2011.
Chances of winning the first pick:
| LOTTERY TEAMS FOR 2012 WNBA DRAFT | |||
| Team | Record | Chances (out of 1,000) | |
| 1. | Tulsa | 3-31 | 442 |
| 2. | Minnesota from Washington (Anosike – 4/8/11) | 6-28 | 276 |
| 3. | Chicago | 14-20 | 178 |
| 4. | Los Angeles | 15-19 | 104 |
Remaining Order of the First Round
| Team | Record | |
| 5. | San Antonio | 18-16 |
| 6. | Phoenix | 19-15 |
| 7. | New York | 19-15 |
| 8. | Washington from Atlanta (L. Harding/T Phillips, K. Miller – 4/11/11) | 20-14 |
| 9. | Connecticut | 21-13 |
| 10. | Washington from Seattle (K. Smith, J. Monroe/J. Thomas – 4/29/11) | 21-13 |
| 11. | Indiana | 21-13 |
| 12. | Minnesota | 27-7 |
