2015 WNBA draft
General information
SportBasketball
Date(s)16 April
LocationMohegan Sun Arena, Uncasville, Connecticut
Network(s)ESPN2, ESPNU
Overview
LeagueWNBA
First selectionJewell Loyd
Seattle Storm
← 2014
2016 →

The 2015 WNBA draft was the league's draft for the 2015 WNBA season. The Seattle Storm picked first.

This year's draft was unusual in that two players with remaining college eligibility declared for the draft—Jewell Loyd of Notre Dame, who had one year of eligibility remaining, and Amanda Zahui B. of Minnesota, with two years remaining. Both players were draft-eligible by virtue of their births in 1993; under current draft rules, players who turn 22 in the calendar year of the draft can declare themselves eligible even if they have not completed college eligibility.[1] Before this season, only two players with remaining college eligibility had ever entered the WNBA draft, and only one of these did so before her fourth college season (Kelsey Bone in 2012).[2]

Draft lottery

The lottery selection to determine the order of the top four picks in the 2015 draft occurred on August 21, 2014. The team that would get the first pick would be the winner of the lottery.[3]

Below were the chances for each team to get specific picks in the 2015 draft lottery, rounded to three decimal places:

Team 2014
record 		Lottery win
chances 		Pick
1st 2nd 3rd 4th
Seattle Storm 12-22 359
Tulsa Shock 12-22 359
Connecticut Sun 13-21 178
Connecticut Sun (from New York Liberty) 15-19 104
Shaded block denotes actual lottery result.

Invited players

The WNBA announced on April 13, 2015 that 12 players had been invited to attend the draft. Unless indicated otherwise, all players listed are Americans who played at U.S. colleges.[4]

Key

* Denotes player who has been selected for at least one All-Star Game and All-WNBA Team
+ Denotes player who has been selected for at least one All-Star Game
Bold Denotes player who won Rookie of the Year

Draft selections

Round 1

Pick Player Nationality Team School / club team
1 Jewell Loyd *  United States Seattle Storm Notre Dame
2 Amanda Zahui B.  Sweden Tulsa Shock Minnesota
3 Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis  United States Seattle Storm (from Conn.) [a] Connecticut
4 Elizabeth Williams +  United States Connecticut Sun (from N.Y.) Duke
5 Cheyenne Parker +  United States Chicago Sky Middle Tennessee
6 Dearica Hamby +  United States San Antonio Stars (from Ind.) [b] Wake Forest
7 Crystal Bradford  United States Los Angeles Sparks Central Michigan
8 Ally Malott  United States Washington Mystics Dayton
9 Brittany Boyd  United States New York Liberty (from S.A.) California
10 Samantha Logic  United States Atlanta Dream Iowa
11 Kiah Stokes  United States New York Liberty (from Min.) Connecticut
12 Isabelle Harrison  United States Phoenix Mercury[7] Tennessee

Round 2

Pick Player Nationality Team School / club team
13 Brianna Kiesel  United States Tulsa Shock Pittsburgh
14 Cierra Burdick  United States Los Angeles Sparks (through Sea.) Tennessee
15 Natasha Cloud  United States Washington Mystics (through Conn./Sea.) Saint Joseph's
16 Reshanda Gray  United States Minnesota Lynx (from N.Y.) California
17 Betnijah Laney +  United States Chicago Sky Rutgers
18 Alex Harden  United States Phoenix Mercury (through Ind.) Wichita State
19 Brittany Hrynko  United States Connecticut Sun (through L.A.; traded to Atl.) DePaul
20 Vicky McIntyre  United States Seattle Storm (through Was.) Oral Roberts
21 Chelsea Gardner  United States Indiana Fever (from S.A.) Kansas
22 Aleighsa Welch  United States Chicago Sky (through Atl.) South Carolina
23 Amber Orrange  United States New York Liberty (from Min.) Stanford
24 Žofia Hruščáková  Slovakia Phoenix Mercury Good Angels Košice (Slovakia)

Round 3

Pick Player Nationality Team School / club team
25 Mimi Mungedi  Gabon Tulsa Shock Nevada
26 Nneka Enemkpali  United States Seattle Storm Texas
27 Laurin Mincy  United States New York Liberty (through Conn.) Maryland
28 Michala Johnson  United States New York Liberty (from Minn.) Wisconsin
29 Ariel Massengale  United States Atlanta Dream Tennessee
30 Dragana Stanković  Serbia San Antonio Stars (from Ind.) UNIQA Euroleasing Sopron (Hungary)
31 Andrea Hoover  United States Los Angeles Sparks Dayton
32 Marica Gajić  Bosnia and Herzegovina Washington Mystics ŽKK Celje (Slovenia)
33 Nikki Moody  United States San Antonio Stars Iowa State
34 Lauren Okafor  United States Atlanta Dream James Madison
35 Shae Kelley  United States Minnesota Lynx (from N.Y.) Minnesota
36 Promise Amukamara  Nigeria Phoenix Mercury Arizona State

See also

References

  1. ^ Feinberg, Doug (April 15, 2015). "Jewell Loyd, Amanda Zahui B. shake up WNBA draft". The Denver Post. Associated Press. Retrieved January 14, 2016.
  2. ^ Morris, Benjamin (April 27, 2015). "Women's College Basketball Is Better Than Men's". FiveThirtyEight. Retrieved June 7, 2016.
  3. ^ Seattle Storm win WNBA draft lottery, secure No. 1 pick - ESPN
  4. ^ "Loyd, Mosqueda-Lewis Headline List of Top College Prospects to Attend WNBA Draft 2015 Presented by State Farm" (Press release). WNBA. April 13, 2015. Archived from the original on April 14, 2015. Retrieved April 13, 2015.
  5. ^ "Seattle Storm 2015 Team Transactions". espn.go.com. ESPN. Retrieved March 21, 2015.
  6. ^ Fever Acquire Shenise Johnson From Stars
  7. ^ WNBA.com: Seattle Storm Win Top Pick in 2015 WNBA Draft Presented by State Farm
  1. ^ The Storm traded Camille Little and Shekinna Stricklen to Connecticut for the 3rd and 15th picks in this draft.[5]
  2. ^ The Stars traded Shenise Johnson and their second-round pick to Indiana for the first- and third-round picks in this draft.[6]
Categories