Sparks Need the No. 1 Pick Most as 2027 WNBA Draft Lottery Approaches

The 2027 WNBA Draft Lottery arrives Sunday night, Nov. 15, when the league reveals the full order for next year's draft and one franchise lands the No. 1 overall pick and the right to select USC star JuJu Watkins. The drawing airs at 7:30 p.m. ET on ESPN after the top-10 matchup between No. 4 UConn and No. 7 Louisville.

Watkins is by far the best prospect in the class. She missed her entire junior season with a torn ACL and returned to action earlier this month, averaging 24.3 points, 8.3 rebounds, 4.7 assists, 3.7 steals and a block through her first three games. She has not officially declared and could return to school for 2027-28 through her medical redshirt, though that would be a surprise.

The Houston Comets and Toronto Tempo will split the best odds for the top pick. The league determines lottery odds with two-season aggregate records, but for last season's expansion teams, the Tempo and Portland Fire, only the 2026 record counted. The Comets, formerly the Connecticut Sun, went 22-66 over the last two seasons, while the Tempo were 11-33 in their inaugural campaign. With identical .250 winning percentages, the league pooled the two teams' lottery combinations and divided them evenly.

The Chicago Sky, Seattle Storm, Phoenix Mercury and Los Angeles Sparks are also in the lottery. The Sky owe the Washington Mystics a first-round pick swap, and the Mercury traded their first-round pick to the Sparks, who now hold two lottery selections. The odds, though, belong to the team that originally owned each pick.

Which franchise needs the No. 1 pick most? The Mystics rank sixth. Washington went 14-4 after the All-Star break, tied for the league's best record in that span, and reached the playoffs for the first time since 2023 behind a young core of Shakira Austin, Kiki Iriafen and Sonia Citron, making their third-best odds, via the Sky, a welcome bonus.

The Tempo are fifth and the Storm fourth. Toronto went 2-24 over its final 26 games to secure a share of the best odds but was 9-9 with the league's No. 4 offense behind Marina Mabrey before injuries hit. Seattle finished a league-worst 8-36 yet already has young cornerstones in Dominique Malonga, Awa Fam and Flau'jae Johnson.

The Fire are third. Portland went 17-27 in its debut season behind breakout point guard Carla Leite and coach Alex Sarama, but the roster lacks top-level talent, and since Portland is not a free agent destination, the Fire must build through the draft with only the fifth-best odds.

The Comets are second. In March, Tilman Fertitta bought the Sun from the Mohegan Tribe for a record $300 million in a controversial deal that moved the franchise to Houston and revived the Comets, the league's first dynasty. The club went 11-33 in each of the last two seasons and, because of a third-place finish in 2024 and a pick swap owed to the Sky, is finally in the lottery. Young players like Leila Lacan, Olivia Nelson-Ododa and Aaliyah Edwards mostly project as complementary pieces, so the franchise badly needs a star like Watkins.

No team needs the top pick more than the Sparks, who have not made the playoffs since the 2020 bubble season, the longest active drought in the league. A failed all-in push cost general manager Raegan Pebley and coach Lynne Roberts their jobs. Los Angeles traded the pick that became Malonga for Kelsey Plum, swapped Rickea Jackson for Ariel Atkins, who averaged 8.5 points on 38.1 percent shooting last season, and watched Nneka Ogwumike retire. Cameron Brink, the lone young player with All-Star potential, has played 65 games in three injury-plagued seasons. The Sparks' own pick carries the second-worst odds and the Mercury pick the worst, so even with two selections they need a miracle. New general manager Ariana Andonian, who has yet to hire a coach, faces a steep climb.