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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowWhile most WNBA teams are battling for playoff spots in one of the league's most competitive postseason races, New York, Indiana, Chicago and Las Vegas are jockeying for the draft lottery position.
The league changed the lottery system in 2015 to include the record over a two-year span to avoid teams tanking to get the top draft pick.
Indiana has the best odds to get No. 1 with a 14-49 mark over the past two seasons after Tuesday's loss to Seattle. The Fever are 5-24 this year with five games left in the 34-game season.
Las Vegas, which is still in the playoff hunt, currently has the second-best chance, two games ahead of Chicago in the two-year standings. The Aces put more distance from Chicago on Tuesday when the league ruled their game against Washington last Friday would be a forfeit after the Las Vegas players decided not to play because of health and safety after traveling for 26 hours to get to Washington, D.C.
The Las Vegas Aces, formerly the San Antonio Stars, have had the top pick the last two years. They are 20-43 over the past two seasons.
New York, which finished with the third-best record last season, has assured itself the worst chance to get the No. 1 pick this year. The Liberty are 29-33 over two years after losing seven straight games.
While there was no doubt that Las Vegas' A'ja Wilson was the consensus No. 1 pick in the 2018 draft, no leading candidate has emerged yet for next year's pick. There are a lot of talented college seniors in the draft, including guard Asia Durr of Louisville, forward Katie Lou Samuelson of UConn and centers Kalani Brown of Baylor and Teaira McCowan of Mississippi State.
Who goes No. 1 might come down to the need of the team that gets the top pick.
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