The 2012 WNBA draft was the league's annual process for determining which teams receive the rights to negotiate with players entering the league. The draft was held on April 16, 2012, at the ESPN studios in Bristol, Connecticut. The first round was shown on ESPN2 (HD), with the second and third rounds shown on NBA TV and ESPNU.

Draft lottery The lottery selection to determine the order of the top four picks in the 2012 draft occurred on November 10, 2011. The Los Angeles Sparks won the first pick, while the Chicago Sky, Minnesota Lynx and Tulsa Shock were awarded the second, third and fourth picks respectively. The remaining first-round picks and all the second- and third-round picks were assigned to teams in reverse order of their win–loss records in the previous season.

Below were the chances for each team to get specific picks in the 2012 draft lottery, rounded to three decimal places:

Team2011recordLotterychancesPick1st2nd3rd4th Tulsa Shock 3–31 442 .442 .316 .181.062 Minnesota Lynx (from Was.) 6–28 276 .276 .310.270 .144 Seattle Storm (from Chi.) 14–20 178 .178.230 .317 .275 Los Angeles Sparks 15–19 104.104 .145 .232 .520Shaded block denotes actual lottery result.

Transactions February 1, 2011: Los Angeles acquired a second-round pick from Tulsa as part of the Andrea Riley transaction. April 11, 2011: Minnesota acquired a second-round pick from Atlanta as part of the Felicia Chester/Rachel Jarry transaction. April 11, 2011: Atlanta acquired a second-round pick from Washington as part of the Lindsey Harding trade. April 11, 2011: Washington acquired a first-round pick from Atlanta as part of the Lindsey Harding trade. April 11, 2011: Phoenix acquired a third-round pick from Connecticut as part of the Tahnee Robinson transaction. April 11, 2011: Minnesota acquired a second-round pick from New York as part of the Jessica Breland transaction. April 11, 2011: Minnesota acquired a first-round pick from Washington as part of the Nicky Anosike trade. April 29, 2011: Indiana acquired a third-round pick from Seattle as part of the Katie Smith/Erin Phillips three-team trade. April 29, 2011: Washington acquired a first-round pick from Seattle and a third-round pick from Indiana as part of the Katie Smith/Erin Phillips three-team trade. April 29, 2011: Seattle acquired a second-round pick from Indiana as part of the Katie Smith/Erin Phillips three-team trade. May 2, 2011: Tulsa acquired second- and third-round picks from San Antonio as part of the Scholanda Robinson transaction. May 27, 2011: Minnesota has the right to swap third-round picks with New York as part of the Quanitra Hollingsworth transaction. June 1, 2011: Los Angeles acquired a second-round pick from Chicago as part of the Lindsay Wisdom-Hylton trade. January 2, 2012: Seattle acquired the second overall pick from Chicago and Chicago acquired the 23rd overall pick from Seattle as part of the Swin Cash trade. February 28, 2012: Phoenix traded the 18th pick to Minnesota in exchange for Charde Houston and the 24th pick. Source

Draft invitees The WNBA announced on April 11, 2012, that 15 players had been invited to attend the draft. Unless indicated otherwise, all players listed are Americans who played at U.S. colleges.

LaSondra Barrett, LSU Vicki Baugh, Tennessee Sasha Goodlett, Georgia Tech Tiffany Hayes, Connecticut Glory Johnson, Tennessee Shenise Johnson, Miami (FL) Lynetta Kizer, Maryland Natalie Novosel, Notre Dame Nneka Ogwumike, Stanford Devereaux Peters, Notre Dame Samantha Prahalis, Ohio State Kayla Standish, Gonzaga Shekinna Stricklen, Tennessee Riquna Williams, Miami (FL) Julie Wojta, Green Bay

Key

Draft Round 1 PickPlayerNationalityTeamSchool / club team 1 Nneka Ogwumike * Los Angeles Sparks Stanford 2 Shekinna Stricklen Seattle Storm Tennessee 3 Devereaux Peters Minnesota Lynx Notre Dame 4 Glory Johnson + Tulsa Shock Tennessee 5 Shenise Johnson San Antonio Silver Stars Miami (FL) 6 Samantha Prahalis Phoenix Mercury Ohio State 7 Kelley Cain New York Liberty Tennessee 8 Natalie Novosel Washington Mystics Notre Dame 9 Astan Dabo # Connecticut Sun Reims Basket 10 LaSondra Barrett # Washington Mystics LSU 11 Sasha Goodlett Indiana Fever Georgia Tech 12 Damiris Dantas Minnesota Lynx CD Bosco-Celta de Vigo

Round 2 PickPlayerNationalityTeamSchool / club team 13 Farhiya Abdi Los Angeles Sparks Frisco SIKA (Czech Republic) 14Tiffany Hayes * Atlanta Dream Connecticut 15 Khadijah Rushdan # Los Angeles Sparks Rutgers 16 Tyra White # Los Angeles Sparks Texas A&M 17Riquna Williams + Tulsa Shock Miami (FL) 18 Julie Wojta Minnesota Lynx Green Bay 19 Kayla Standish # Minnesota Lynx Gonzaga 20 Nika Barič # Minnesota Lynx Spartak Moscow (Russia) 21 Chay Shegog Connecticut Sun North Carolina 22 Keisha Hampton Seattle Storm DePaul 23 Shey Peddy Chicago Sky Temple 24 C'eira Ricketts # Phoenix Mercury Arkansas

Round 3 PickPlayerNationalityTeamSchool / club team 25 Vicki Baugh Tulsa Shock Tennessee 26 Anjale Barrett # Washington Mystics Maryland 27 Sydney Carter Chicago Sky Texas A&M 28 April Sykes Los Angeles Sparks Rutgers 29 Lynetta Kizer Tulsa Shock Maryland 30 Christine Flores # Phoenix Mercury Missouri 31 Jacki Gemelos Minnesota Lynx USC 32 Isabelle Yacoubou (pick later voided) Atlanta Dream Valencia (Spain) 33 Amanda Johnson # Phoenix Mercury Oregon 34 # Indiana Fever VCU 35 Briana Gilbreath Washington Mystics USC 36 Katelan Redmon New York Liberty Gonzaga

See also List of first overall WNBA draft picks

References

External links 2012 WNBA draft board