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Mechelle VoepelESPN.com
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- Mechelle Voepel covers the WNBA, women’s collegiate basketball and other collegiate sports for espnW. Voepel began covering women’s basketball in 1984 and has been with ESPN since 1996.
The Atlanta Dream earned the No. 1 pick in the WNBA draft Wednesday in a trade with the Washington Mystics, the teams announced. The draft is Monday in New York (7 p.m. ET, ESPN).
The Mystics earn the Dreams’ #3 overall pick, plus a #14 second-round pick and the right to trade with the 2023 Los Angeles Sparks first-round pick. Atlanta holds the rights to it, which The Dream acquired in a deal for guard Chennedy Carter in February.
This is the second year in a row that the No. 1 has been traded before the draft. Last year, the New York Liberty traded the pick to the Seattle Storm, who then traded it to the Dallas Wings, who picked Texas center Charli Collier.
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Washington won the draft lottery in December. The only other time the Mystics had the top pick was in 1999 when they selected former Tennessee forward Chamique Holdsclaw. Washington, the 2019 WNBA champion, missed the playoffs 12-20 last season as star guard/forward Elena Delle Donne was limited to three games by back problems. She is expected to be able to play in the coming season.
Baylor forward NaLyssa Smith and Kentucky guard Rhyne Howard are forecast to be the top two picks, and it seems the Dream wanted one of them enough to secure that deal.
Atlanta finished last season 8-24 and missed the playoffs four of the last five years. It got a new owner in February 2021, as well as a new coach in Tanisha Wright last October and a new general manager in Dan Padover.
Atlanta had picked No. 1 again: in 2009, when it took Louisville guard/forward Angel McCoughtry, who spent nine seasons with The Dream and became a two-time Olympian. She is now with the Minnesota Lynx.