The Dallas Wings have once again secured the top spot in the WNBA draft lottery, marking their second consecutive year of holding the coveted number one pick. This achievement was revealed on Sunday night, solidifying the Wings’ position as a team to watch in the upcoming season.

After successfully drafting Paige Bueckers with last year’s number one pick, the Wings entered this year’s lottery with a 42% chance of repeating their success. Their fortune continued, as they emerged with the top selection once more.

Dallas General Manager Curt Miller emphasized the significance of this opportunity, stating, “This is an integral piece, a core piece. In recent draft classes, you see what consecutive No. 1 picks can do.” Miller’s comments reflect the potential impact back-to-back top selections can have on building a formidable team roster.

Adding to the team’s momentum, the Wings recently appointed seasoned college coach Jose Fernandez to guide the franchise. “Exciting times with our young core and new facilities and new coach,” Miller remarked, describing the current moment as a “great moment” for the organization.

As the draft order unfolds, the Minnesota Lynx, who boasted the best record in the league last year, will make their selection second. They acquired this pick via a previous trade involving the Chicago Sky. Following Minnesota, Seattle, Washington, and Chicago complete the lottery lineup. Notably, this year’s lottery marks only the fifth time in its history that the draft order matched the teams’ chances, the last occurrence being in 2018.

Minnesota, which had the best record in the league last year, will pick second. The Lynx possessed the Chicago Sky’s first-round pick after a previous trade. Seattle, Washington and Chicago rounded out the lottery. This marked the fifth time in the history of the lottery that the results matched the order of chances held by the teams — the last came in 2018.

The WNBA is currently negotiating with the players’ union for a new collective bargaining agreement. The two sides agreed to extend an Oct. 31 deadline to Nov. 30. Assuming a new CBA can be negotiated, the draft is normally held in April.

While there’s no clear No. 1 pick in the draft like Bueckers last season, there’s a host of draft-eligible players in college including UCLA’s Lauren Betts, UConn’s Azzi Fudd, LSU’s Flau’jae Johnson and TCU’s Olivia Miles. There’s also Spanish player Awa Fam.

“The great things about this draft is there’s a lot of optionality coming out,” Miller said.

Miller said he had more nerves this year than last year. He also said he’s fielded more calls before the lottery results were announced from other teams interested in potentially trading with Dallas than last year.

The Wings sent player Maddy Siegrist to the lottery for the second year in a row. She recently got married and met the Pope before heading to Los Angeles for the lottery.

The league is expanding to 15 teams this season with the addition of the Portland Fire and Toronto Tempo. Details of the expansion draft for those two new franchises hasn’t been announced yet. The two teams will also pick sixth and seventh in the draft next April.

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AP WNBA: https://apnews.com/hub/wnba-basketball