How the WNBA operated its six previous expansion drafts

When the WNBA and the player’s association finally get a collective bargaining agreement figured out, one of the first orders of business will be scheduling an expansion draft so the incoming Portland Fire and the Toronto Tempo can finally put a roster together.

With no CBA in place, there’s no date or rules set for the 2026 expansion draft. But there’s plenty of time to consider what the past drafts have looked like.

There have been six expansion drafts in the history of the WNBA, with multiple different formats depending on the number of teams being added and the availability of players.

One thing that has been largely standard for the WNBA expansion drafts is that teams are able to protect a certain number of players from being selected and then any other players on their roster are fair game in the draft.

Here is a brief history of all of the previous WNBA expansion drafts and how they operated:

1998: Detroit Shock and Washington Mystics

The 1998 expansion started with an allocation draft, where both the Shock and Mystics were assigned an available player who was not already on a WNBA roster. The Shock were allocated Cindy Brown (who was playing for the ABL’s Seattle Reign and graduated from Grant High School) and Bosnian Razija Mujanovic, while the Mystics were given Nikki McCray (from the ABL’s Columbus Quest) and Brazilian Alessandra Santos de Oliveira.

After the allocation draft, the expansion draft saw the Shock and the Mystics alternate picks and each received four players.

1999: Minnesota Lynx and Orlando Miracle

Like the 1998 expansion, 1999 included an allocation draft. The Lynx were assigned Kristin Folk (Stanford) and the Miracle gained Nykesha Sales (Connecticut). Both were fresh out of college.

Just like the previous year, the Lynx and the Miracle alternated picks for the expansion draft, each selecting four times.

After the expansion draft, there was a second player allocation from the WNBA. The Lynx were given Katie Smith and the Miracle were given Shannon Johnson. Both played previously for the Columbus Quest in the now-defunct ABL.

2000: Indiana Fever, Miami Sol, Portland Fire and Seattle Storm

The 2000 expansion draft did not feature any player allocation, meaning the Fever, Sol, Fire and Storm each got six draft selections.

With the large number of teams selecting in more rounds, every existing WNBA team was only allowed to protect five players on its roster. However, when a player was selected in the expansion draft, the team whose player was selected was then allowed to protect three additional players. This was to ensure some equality in what teams players were taken from.

With four teams selecting in 2000, there was also a new method of determining draft order. The teams were ordered by a random drawing and the draft order flipped each round. The order of the first round was Indiana, Seattle, Miami and Portland. Then round two was Portland (which picked twice in a row), Miami, Seattle and Indiana. The order flipped every round until each team picked six times.

2006: Chicago Sky

The 2006 expansion draft was the first time what the WNBA was adding just one team in a year. Every WNBA team submitted a list of protected players to the league and the Sky were allowed to select one unprotected player from each of the WNBA’s 13 teams.

2008: Atlanta Dream

The 2008 expansion draft operated just like the 2006 draft, with each existing team protecting six players on their roster. The Dream were allowed to select one unprotected player from the 13 other WNBA teams.

2024: Golden State Valkyries

After a lengthy hiatus, the expansion draft returned ahead of the 2025 season.

Once again, every WNBA team submitted a list of six protected players and the Valkyries were allowed to take one player from the 12 teams. The Valkyries opted to not select any players from the Seattle Storm.