Landing the third pick in next year’s WNBA draft wasn’t a surprise considering the Storm had the third-best odds at the top spot among the five participants in Sunday’s draft lottery.
For the second straight year, the Dallas Wings received the No. 1 pick followed by the Minnesota Lynx, Seattle, the Washington Mystics and the Chicago Sky.
This is the fifth time in the history of the draft lottery — and the first since 2018 — that the results matched the order of chances held by the lottery teams.
Perhaps a slight surprise was Gabby Williams, an unrestricted free agent, representing the Storm during the draft lottery show at ESPN’s Los Angeles studios, which is perhaps an indication that she’ll re-sign with the Storm.
The eight-year veteran and fan favorite has spent most of the WNBA offseason in Seattle and was the only Storm player in attendance when the team introduced first-year coach Sonia Raman two weeks ago.
“We really feel great about our relationship with Gabby,” Storm general manager Talisa Rhea said. “We were happy that she was able to represent us and be down in L.A. for us, and we're excited to continue those conversations.”
The WNBA labor negotiations and uncertainty with free agency — eight Storm players are unrestricted free agents — makes it nearly impossible to predict how Rhea and Raman will rebuild a Storm team that finished 23-21 in 2025 and lost in the first round of the playoffs.
Dominique Malonga, Lexie Brown, Jordan Horston and Nika Muhl are the only players on the roster, while it’s uncertain if Storm starters Nneka Ogwumike, Skylar Diggins, Brittney Sykes, Ezi Magbegor and Williams will return.
Considering roughly 90% of WNBA players are free agents, Rhea is happy to head into the April 13 draft with four draft picks.
In addition to the No. 3 overall pick, the Storm have the No. 14 pick in the first round, the first pick in the second round (No. 16 overall) and the ninth pick in the third round (No. 39 overall).
“It’s going to be a really impactful and deep draft class,” Rhea said. “I think it's a great year to have a lottery pick. There's a lot of really talented players and ones that can really impact the franchise immediately.”
The projected top draft prospects include UCLA center Lauren Betts, Spanish center Awa Fam, TCU point guard Olivia Miles, Connecticut guard Azzi Fudd, LSU guard Flau’jae Johnson and South Carolina guard Ta’Niya Latson.
The Storm obtained their top pick in 2026 during a trade two years ago that sent their 2024 first-round pick and Kia Nurse to the Los Angeles Sparks.
“This draft class is deep,” Rhea said. “We'll be able to get a couple of really great players in those spots.”
2026 WNBA draft order
First Round
Second Round
Third Round
© 2025 The Seattle Times. Visit www.seattletimes.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
