NEW YORK – The 2017 WNBA Draft Lottery presented by State Farm will be televised live on ESPN2 on Wednesday, Sept. 28, the WNBA announced today.  The Lottery, hosted by Doug Kezirian, will air during halftime of the network’s telecast of a semifinal playoff game.  The lottery winner will secure the top pick in the 2017 WNBA Draft presented by State Farm, to be conducted next April.

By missing the playoffs, the Connecticut Sun, Dallas Wings, San Antonio Stars and Washington Mystics qualified for the 16^th annual lottery drawing.  Connecticut’s spot in the lottery, however, belongs to the Los Angeles Sparks, the result of a draft-day trade last April.

Lottery odds are based on the cumulative records of the Sun, Wings, Stars and Mystics over the two most recent regular seasons (2015 and 2016).  The lottery will establish the first four picks of the draft.  The lottery team with the worst two-year cumulative record is guaranteed at least the third pick.

In the drawing, 14 balls numbered 1-14 will be placed in a lottery machine and mixed.  Four balls will be drawn to determine a four-digit combination.  The team assigned that four-ball combination will receive the No. 1 pick.  The four balls will then be placed back into the machine and the process will be repeated to determine the second pick.  The two teams whose numerical combinations do not come up in the lottery will select in the inverse order of their two-year cumulative record.

San Antonio, which finished the past two regular seasons with a combined record of 15-53, will have the most chances to land the top pick (442 out of 1,000).

Connecticut and Dallas each posted a combined record of 29-39.  The Wings hold the lottery tiebreaker by virtue of finishing with a worse record in 2016 (11-23) than the Sun (14-20).  As a result, while Dallas and Los Angeles (via Connecticut) will both have 227 chances out of 1,000 to win the top pick, the Wings will be slotted ahead of the Sparks if neither team comes up in the draw.

Washington, which has a two-year record of 31-37, has the fourth-most chances of landing the No. 1 pick (104 out of 1,000).

The order of selection for the remainder of the first round as well as the second and third rounds is determined by inverse order of the teams’ respective regular-season records solely from 2016.

A representative from the accounting firm of Ernst & Young will be in attendance to oversee the lottery process.

The following are the number of chances for teams to land the top pick in the 2017 WNBA Draft Lottery presented by State Farm:

LOTTERY TEAMS FOR 2017 WNBA DRAFT

            Team                                                  Combined                                    Chances

                                                                        2015-2016 Record                       (out of 1,000)

1. San Antonio                                       15-53                                             442
2. Dallas                                                 29-39                                             227
3. Los Angeles (via Connecticut)          29-39                                             227
4. Washington                                        31-37                                             104

This marks the fifth straight year that ESPN will televise the lottery. In September 2012, the Phoenix Mercury won the Lottery, capturing the No.1 overall pick in the 2013 WNBA Draft presented by State Farm the following April.  Phoenix selected Baylor’s Brittney Griner with the first pick.  One year later, the Connecticut Sun won the Lottery and went on to draft Chiney Ogwumike of Stanford at No. 1.  In the following Lottery, conducted in August 2014, the Seattle Storm landed the top pick, which the team used to select Notre Dame’s Jewell Loyd.  Last September, the Storm again won the lottery, landing the No. 1 overall selection which they used to pick Connecticut’s Breanna Stewart.

About State Farm®:
The mission of State Farm is to help people manage the risks of everyday life, recover from the unexpected, and realize their dreams. State Farm and its affiliates are the largest providers of auto, home and individual life insurance in the United States. Its 18,000 agents and more than 65,000 employees serve more than 83 million policies and accounts – nearly 81 million auto, home, life, health and commercial policies, and nearly 2 million bank accounts. Commercial auto insurance, along with coverage for renters, business owners, boats and motorcycles, is available. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company is the parent of the State Farm family of companies. State Farm is ranked No. 35 on the 2016 Fortune 500 list of largest companies. For more information, please visit http://www.statefarm.com.

About the WNBA

The WNBA, which features 12 teams, is a unique global sports property combining competition, sportsmanship, and entertainment with its status as an icon for social change, achievement, and diversity.  The league, which counts Verizon as its leaguewide marquee partner, concluded its 20^th regular season on Sept. 18, 2016.

Through WNBA Cares, the WNBA is deeply committed to creating programs that improve the quality of life for all people, with a special emphasis on programs that promote a healthy lifestyle and positive body image, increase breast and women’s health awareness, support youth and family development, and focus on education.  For more information on the WNBA, log on to www.wnba.com.