The WNBA draft lottery was on Sunday, confirming the order of the primary 5 picks of the 2026 WNBA Draft. For the second yr in a row, the Dallas Wings have the primary choice, and can get to select from a pool of unbelievable expertise. After them, will probably be Minnesota, Seattle, Washington and Chicago selecting.
It’s additionally the second yr in a row that Washington has the No. 4 choose. After that, they’ve the ninth total choose and the eleventh total choose.
On the 2025 draft, they picked Sonia Citron No. 3, Kiki Iriafen No. 4, and Georgia Amoore No. 6. Within the second spherical, the Mystics drafted Lucy Olsen No. 11, and she or he ended up making the roster together with their three first-round picks. But, issues bought a bit crowded on the Mystics roster in the course of the season, even with Amoore out with an ACL damage. The Mystics determined to commerce their 2024 first-round choose, Aaliyah Edwards, who they bought at No. 6, to the Connecticut Solar.
The Mystics’ younger trio of Citron, Iriafen and Amoore have a ton of future potential as a core, which is nice given they’re a few of the solely gamers the Mystics will 100% have on their roster come 2026. With about 80% of the league heading into free company this offseason, plus a looming growth draft with Toronto and Portland getting into the league, not many groups have positive issues set for subsequent season.
Whereas we don’t at present know the foundations of the growth draft — together with what number of gamers groups will have the ability to defend — the Mystics trio of Citron, Iriafen and Amoore might be secure. Final yr, groups might defend six gamers from the Valkyries’ growth draft. Even when the league cuts that to a few gamers, the Mystics ought to nonetheless defend these three.
Nonetheless, when you consider these returning sophomore gamers and the gamers the Mystics will ultimately choose up in free company, you then come right into a roster subject. As of proper now, groups have a cap of 12 gamers. In the event you put in Citron, Iriafen, Amoore, and even Olsen, who continues to be technically on contract as a rookie-scale participant, plus the three first-round picks, that’s already 7 gamers. Washington then additionally has the nineteenth, thirtieth and thirty fourth total picks within the later rounds of the 2026 draft. Camp is already at 10 gamers, and that’s earlier than free company.
The draft additionally means a bit extra this season, as the 2 growth groups enter the combination. There are extra roster spots, and with a deep pool of expertise leaving faculty within the spring for the WNBA, these first-round picks are going to be scorching commodities.
The Mystics are in a fantastic place to consolidate the No. 9 and No. 11 picks for a participant with veteran expertise on the commerce market. Having an older participant to pair with this wonderful group of younger expertise may very well be actually useful to the event of the Mystics.
Preserving all six draft picks for 2026 goes to make coaching camp extra of a contest. Roster spots are restricted, and many of the gamers the Mystics find yourself drafting will in the end be waived. They’ll get some worth for these picks earlier than they’re even made, from groups that want or need younger gamers extra.
None of this could occur till two issues are behind us, although. First, the WNBA wants to come back to phrases with a brand new Collective Bargaining Settlement. We received’t learn about new draft guidelines, growth draft guidelines, free company guidelines and so on., till that occurs. After that, all groups ought to wait till free company has settled a bit earlier than going laborious with buying and selling draft picks. See what the panorama seems like and who may very well be out there earlier than you begin making massive trades.
Nonetheless, it appears unlikely that the Mystics will enter the 2026 WNBA draft with all six of their present picks, so their offseason exercise bears watching.
