2015 WNBA draft

{{Short description|Player selection process}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2023}}

{{Infobox sports draft

| name = 2015 WNBA draft

| image =

| caption =

| logo =

| logosize =

| sport = Basketball

| date = 16 April

| location = Mohegan Sun Arena, Uncasville, Connecticut

| network = ESPN2, ESPNU

| league = WNBA

| teams =

| first = Jewell Loyd
Seattle Storm

| territorial =

| prev = 2014

| next = 2016

}}

The 2015 WNBA draft was the league's draft for the 2015 WNBA season.{{cite web |url=http://www.wnba.com/news/seattle_wins_draft_lottery_2014_08_21.html |website=WNBA |title=Seattle Storm Win Top Pick in 2015 WNBA Draft Presented by State Farm}} The Seattle Storm picked first.

This year's draft was unusual in that two players with remaining college eligibility declared for the draft—Jewell Loyd of Notre Dame, who had one year of eligibility remaining, and Amanda Zahui B. of Minnesota, with two years remaining. Both players were draft-eligible by virtue of their births in 1993; under current draft rules, players who turn 22 in the calendar year of the draft can declare themselves eligible even if they have not completed college eligibility.{{cite news|url=http://www.denverpost.com/nuggets/ci_27918496/jewell-loyd-amanda-zahui-b-shake-up-wnba |title=Jewell Loyd, Amanda Zahui B. shake up WNBA draft |first=Doug |last=Feinberg |agency=Associated Press |newspaper=The Denver Post |date=April 15, 2015 |access-date=January 14, 2016}} Before this season, only two players with remaining college eligibility had ever entered the WNBA draft, and only one of these did so before her fourth college season (Kelsey Bone in 2012).{{cite web|url=https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/womens-college-basketball-is-better-than-mens/ |title=Women's College Basketball Is Better Than Men's |first=Benjamin |last=Morris |publisher=FiveThirtyEight |date=April 27, 2015 |access-date=June 7, 2016}}

Draft lottery

The lottery selection to determine the order of the top four picks in the 2015 draft occurred on August 21, 2014. The team that would get the first pick would be the winner of the lottery.[https://www.espn.com/wnba/story/_/id/11391119/seattle-storm-win-wnba-draft-lottery-secure-no-1-pck Seattle Storm win WNBA draft lottery, secure No. 1 pick - ESPN]

Note: Team selected for the No. 1 pick noted in bold text.

class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align: center; width: 70%"

! Team

! 2014 record

! Lottery chances{{cite website |title=Seattle Storm Win Draft Lottery! |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKLW0lYBaiA |website=YouTube |publisher=WNBA |date=August 21, 2014 |access-date=April 21, 2025}}

! Result

Seattle Storm

| 12–22

| 35.9%

| 1st pick

Tulsa Shock

| 12–22

| 35.9%

| 2nd pick

Connecticut Sun

| 13–21

| 17.8%

| 3rd pick

Connecticut Sun {{small|(from New York Liberty)}}

| 15–19{{efn|New York's record}}

| 10.4%

| 4th pick

{{notelist}}

Draft invitees

The WNBA announced on April 13, 2015 the 12 players invited to attend the draft.{{cite press release |url=http://www.wnba.com/news/loyd_mosquedalewis_headline__2015_04_13.html |title=Loyd, Mosqueda-Lewis Headline List of Top College Prospects to Attend WNBA Draft 2015 Presented by State Farm |publisher=WNBA |date=April 13, 2015 |access-date=April 13, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150414034101/http://www.wnba.com/news/loyd_mosquedalewis_headline__2015_04_13.html |archive-date=April 14, 2015 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all }}

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Key

{{WNBA Draft legend|1=y|2=y|3=y|4=y|6=y|7=y}}

Draft

=Round 1=

class="wikitable sortable"
width=30|Pick

! width=333|Player

! width=200|Nationality

! width=383|Team

! width="333"|School / club team

1

| bgcolor="#FBCEB1"|Jewell Loyd *

| {{USA}}

| Seattle Storm

| Notre Dame

2

| |Amanda Zahui B.

| {{SWE}}

| Tulsa Shock

| Minnesota

3

| |Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis

| rowspan=10| {{USA}}

| Seattle Storm {{small|(from Connecticut)}}{{#tag:ref|The Storm traded Camille Little and Shekinna Stricklen to Connecticut for the 3rd and 15th picks in this draft.{{cite web|url=https://www.espn.com/wnba/team/transactions/_/name/sea/seattle-storm|title=Seattle Storm 2015 Team Transactions|access-date=2015-03-21|publisher=ESPN|work=ESPN}}|group=lower-alpha|name=note_a}}

| Connecticut

4

| bgcolor=#FFCC00| Elizabeth Williams +

| Connecticut Sun {{small|(from New York)}}

| Duke

5

| bgcolor="#FFCC00"| Cheyenne Parker +

| Chicago Sky

| Middle Tennessee

6

| bgcolor=#FFCC00| Dearica Hamby +

| San Antonio Stars {{small|(from Indiana)}}{{#tag:ref|The Stars traded Shenise Johnson and their second-round pick to Indiana for the first- and third-round picks in this draft.[http://www.wnba.com/news/fever_acquire_shenise_johnson_2015_03_12.html Fever Acquire Shenise Johnson From Stars]|group=lower-alpha|name=note_b}}

|Wake Forest

7

| Crystal Bradford

| Los Angeles Sparks

| Central Michigan

8

| Ally Malott

| Washington Mystics

| Dayton

9

| Brittany Boyd

| New York Liberty {{small|(from San Antonio)}}

| California

10

| Samantha Logic

| Atlanta Dream

| Iowa

11

| Kiah Stokes

| New York Liberty {{small|(from Minnesota)}}

| Connecticut

12

| Isabelle Harrison

| Phoenix Mercury

| Tennessee

=Round 2=

class="wikitable sortable"
width=30|Pick

! width=333|Player

! width=200|Nationality

! width=383|Team

! width=333|School / club team

13

| Brianna Kiesel

| rowspan=11|{{USA}}

| Tulsa Shock

| Pittsburgh

14

| Cierra Burdick

| Los Angeles Sparks {{small|(from Seattle)}}

| Tennessee

15

| Natasha Cloud

| Washington Mystics {{small|(from Connecticut via Seattle)}}

| Saint Joseph's

16

| Reshanda Gray

| Minnesota Lynx {{small|(from New York)}}

| California

17

| bgcolor=#FFCC00|Betnijah Laney +

| Chicago Sky

| Rutgers

18

| Alex Harden

| Phoenix Mercury {{small| (from Indiana)}}{{refn|May 12, 2014: Indiana to Phoenix{{cite web |title=Indiana Acquires Two-Time Big Ten Player of the Year Maggie Lucas |url=https://www.oursportscentral.com/services/releases/indiana-acquires-two-time-big-ten-player-of-the-year-maggie-lucas/n-4787310 |website=Our Sports Central |date=May 12, 2014 |access-date=June 4, 2025}}

  • Indiana acquired Maggie Lucas
  • Phoenix acquired 2015 second-round pick|name=FevMerc|group=lower-alpha}}

| Wichita State

19

| Brittany Hrynko {{small|(traded to Atlanta)}}

| Connecticut Sun {{small|(from Los Angeles)}}

| DePaul

20

| bgcolor=#C0C0C0| Vicky McIntyre #

| Seattle Storm {{small|(from Washington)}}

| Oral Roberts

21

| bgcolor=#C0C0C0| Chelsea Gardner #

| Indiana Fever {{small|(from San Antonio)}}

| Kansas

22

| bgcolor=#C0C0C0| Aleighsa Welch #

| Chicago Sky {{small|(from Atlanta)}}

| South Carolina

23

| bgcolor=#C0C0C0| Amber Orrange #

| New York Liberty {{small|(from Minnesota)}}

| Stanford

24

| bgcolor=#C0C0C0| Žofia Hruščáková #

| {{SVK}}

| Phoenix Mercury

| Good Angels Košice {{small|(Slovakia)}}

=Round 3=

class="wikitable sortable"
width=30|Pick

! width=333|Player

! width=200|Nationality

! width=383|Team

! width=333|School / club team

25

| bgcolor=#C0C0C0| Mimi Mungedi #

| {{GAB}}

| Tulsa Shock

| Nevada

26

| bgcolor=#C0C0C0| Nneka Enemkpali #

| rowspan=4| {{USA}}

| Seattle Storm

| Texas

27

| bgcolor=#C0C0C0| Laurin Mincy #

| New York Liberty {{small|(from Connecticut)}}

| Maryland

28

| bgcolor=#C0C0C0| Michala Johnson #

| New York Liberty {{small|(from Minnesota)}}

| Wisconsin

29

| bgcolor=#C0C0C0| Ariel Massengale #

| Atlanta Dream

| Tennessee

30

| bgcolor=#C0C0C0| Dragana Stanković #

| {{SRB}}

| San Antonio Stars {{small|(from Indiana)}}

| UNIQA Euroleasing Sopron {{small|(Hungary)}}

31

| Andrea Hoover

| {{USA}}

| Los Angeles Sparks

| Dayton

32

| bgcolor=#C0C0C0| Marica Gajić #

| {{BIH}}

| Washington Mystics

| ŽKK Celje {{small|(Slovenia)}}

33

| bgcolor=#C0C0C0| Nikki Moody #

| rowspan=3| {{USA}}

| San Antonio Stars

| Iowa State

34

| bgcolor=#C0C0C0| Lauren Okafor #

| Atlanta Dream

| James Madison

35

| Shae Kelley

| Minnesota Lynx {{small|(from New York)}}

| Minnesota

36

| bgcolor=#C0C0C0| Promise Amukamara #

| {{NGA}}

| Phoenix Mercury

| Arizona State

Footnotes

{{reflist|group=lower-alpha}}

References

{{reflist}}

{{reflist|group=lower-alpha}}

{{WNBA Drafts}}

{{2015 WNBA season by team}}

{{2015 WNBA draft}}

Category:WNBA draft

Draft

WNBA draft