Dallas Wings Win WNBA Draft Lottery, With UConn’s Bueckers the Projected Top Pick

UConn guard Paige Bueckers drives to the lane against NC State during the East Regional final of the NCAA women's tournament in Bridgeport, Conn., on March 28, 2022. Frank Franklin II/AP Photo

The Dallas Wings are officially on the clock for the 2025 WNBA Draft as the franchise won the draft lottery and is slated to pick first next spring, followed by the Los Angeles Sparks,  Chicago Sky, and Washington Mystics in that order.

Those were the four teams that missed out on the 2024 WNBA Playoffs and took part in the lottery. Odds are determined by the teams’ cumulative win-loss records from both the 2023 and 2024 seasons, and Dallas had the second-best chance of landing the top spot at 22.7 percent. However, the Wings also had a pick-swap option with the Sky thanks to a previous trade, so Dallas technically had both its 22.7 percent and Chicago’s 22.7 percent, a combined 45.4 percent chance of winning the No. 1 spot.

The Golden State Valkyries, who will make their WNBA franchise debut next season, will hold the No. 5 spot in each round of the three-round draft. The rest of the first round and the subsequent rounds are in the inverse order of teams’ records during the 2024 WNBA season. The one exception is the Las Vegas Aces, who would have drafted 10^th based on their record, but had their 2025 first-round pick rescinded for violating league rules.

The Indiana Fever, who had the top spot in both 2024—selecting Caitlin Clark—and in 2023—drafting Aliyah Boston—will draft eighth after a 20-20 season. The New York Liberty, who had the league’s best record en route to winning the first WNBA championship in franchise history, would have had the 12^th and final spot in the first round, but they netted a pick-swap in a 2023 transaction with the Phoenix Mercury and will draft seventh, while the Mercury will have the last pick of the first round.

While there is no one seen on the same level as Clark in terms of the crossover and mainstream appeal that she brought to the WNBA last season, there is a player with a similar skill set in Paige Bueckers, who is widely expected to be the first overall pick. The current star of the UConn Huskies was the AP Player of the Year as a freshman in 2021, which is the same award that Boston won in 2022, and Clark won in 2023 and 2024.

Bueckers then had numerous injuries over the next two seasons, including a torn ACL that kept her out of the entire 2022-23 year. She returned to the court fully healthy last season and was named a first-team All-American. This season, she’s off to a great start, averaging 21.3 points, 4.0 assists, 3.7 rebounds and 3.0 steals per game through the first couple of weeks of the season. She’s also leading the Big East in field goal percentage (65 percent), and while she’s not as prolific—or as rangy—a three-point shooter as Clark, Bueckers is just as effective as she’s knocked down 42.7 percent of her shots from beyond the arc in her college career.

The Wings could certainly use an instant impact player like Bueckers after suffering through a 9-31 record in the 2024 season. It was the eighth time over the last nine seasons, and 13^th time over the last 15 seasons, that Dallas had a losing record. Despite having a four-time All-Star in Arike Ogunbowale, who finished second in WNBA scoring a year ago, the 31 losses by the Wings tied for the most in franchise history. The team may also have some holes to fill in the starting lineup as Satou Sabally and Natasha Howard, both of whom are two-time All-Stars, are set to hit free agency.

This is the 11^th time that Dallas has participated in the draft lottery, but the first time the franchise won the top overall pick. It’s essentially a guarantee that whoever gets drafted first overall will be an impact player, based on recent history. Of the last 16 players drafted first overall, 15 became All-Stars, with the one exception being 2021 top pick Charli Collier. Coincidentally, Collier was selected by Dallas after the Liberty won the lottery and a couple of trades eventually handed the Wings the top pick. That is the only previous time that the Wings have drafted first overall.

Additionally, out of the last 16 players drafted first overall, 13 have made at least one All-WNBA team, and 12 have been named Rookie of the Year, including each of the last three. Last season saw Clark make the All-Star Game, make All-WNBA and win Rookie of the Year. So Bueckers, or whoever goes first overall, has pretty big shoes to fill.

The full order of the first round is listed below. The 2025 draft will be held in April after the conclusion of the women’s college basketball season.

1. Dallas Wings
2. Los Angeles Sparks
3. Chicago Sky
4. Washington Mystics
5. Golden State Valkyries
6. Washington Mystics
7. New York Liberty
8. Indiana Fever
9. Seattle Storm
10. Chicago Sky
11. Minnesota Lynx
12. Phoenix Mercury