For the second straight year, the New York Liberty will choose first in the WNBA’s draft proceedings, set to be held next spring.
The New York Liberty hit the jackpot at the WNBA Draft Lottery for the second consecutive season, earning the top overall pick for a selection process set to be staged next spring.
New York cashed in on their top odds (44.2 percent), coming out on top of the four-team sweepstakes amongst the non-playoff participants. The Dallas Wings will choose second, while the Atlanta Dream and Indiana Fever round out the top quartet. Last season, the Liberty chose Oregon recordbreaker Sabrina Ionescu with the topic pick. She was limited to three games due to an ankle injury, but managed to briefly impress, scoring 33 points in her second career game.
The lottery was held during halftime of the nationally televised matchup between No. 5 Louisville and No. 20 DePaul. Louisville, which has three representatives on the Liberty roster (Asia Durr, Jazmine Jones, and Kylee Shook), took control in a 116-75 victory in a game held at Mohegan Sun Arena.
General manager Jonathan Kolb represented the team for the second straight season. Upon earning the top overall pick, Kolb said the first thing he envisioned was “Sabrina jumping up and down on her healed ankle”.
“I was trying to contain my own excitement,” Kolb said with a smile in a Zoom press conference call after the reveal. “I was mostly happy for the fans, the fans that have been ride or die with this team since 1997 deserve this. They deserved it last year. I think if you really look at the trajectory of this franchise, where it’s going from an ownership, front office, coaching standpoint, now player acquisition standpoint. This is exciting, it’s an exciting time to be a fan.”
Inside the WNBA’s Bradenton bubble, the Liberty finished a league-worst 2-20 sans Ionescu for a majority of the year, but enjoyed contributions from several rookies. Jazmine Jones, the final pick of last season’s first round, was named to the league’s All-Rookie team while filling in for Ionescu at point guard. Seven rookies partook in at least one game for the Liberty, a situation brought upon by several regular players (including Rebecca Allen, Marine Johannes, Han Xu, and 2019 second overall pick Asia Durr) opt-out of the proceedings. Several players have moved on overseas, where they’re competing in foreign leagues.
Kolb remained in a celebratory mood, but he expressed hope that draft lottery night would not be the only be the only time that the Liberty would be in the headlines far more often.
“We have an exciting opportunity for a hybrid rebuild…we can be super competitive while bringing the Liberty down the road for the future,” Kolb said. “In free agency, we’re going to be really aggressive…I don’t think tonight is the only night we’re going to be in the news over the next few months.”
The date for the 2021 draft has yet to be determined.
Geoff Magliocchetti is on Twitter @GeoffJMags