# 2011 WNBA draft

The 2011 WNBA draft is the league's annual process for determining which teams receive the rights to negotiate with players entering the league. The draft was held on April 11, 2011, at the ESPN studios in Bristol, Connecticut. The first round was shown on ESPN (HD), while the second and third rounds were shown on NBA TV and ESPNU.

## Draft lottery

The lottery selection to determine the order of the top four picks in the 2011 draft occurred on November 2, 2010. The Minnesota Lynx won the first pick, while the Tulsa Shock, Chicago Sky and Lynx were awarded the second, third and fourth picks respectively. The remaining first-round picks and all the second- and third-round picks were assigned to teams in reverse order of their win–loss records in the previous season.
Below were the chances for each team to get specific picks in the 2010 draft lottery, rounded to three decimal places:
| Team | 2010 record | Lottery chances | Pick | Pick | Pick | Pick |
| Team | 2010 record | Lottery chances | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th |
| Tulsa Shock | 6–28 | 442 | .442 | .316 | .181 | .062 |
| Minnesota Lynx | 13–21 | 276 | .276 | .310 | .270 | .144 |
| Chicago Sky | 14–20 | 178 | .178 | .230 | .317 | .275 |
| Minnesota Lynx (from Conn.) | 17–17 | 104 | .104 | .145 | .232 | .520 |
| Shaded block denotes actual lottery result. ||||||||

## Invited players

The WNBA announced on April 6, 2011, that 15 players had been invited to attend the draft. Unless indicated otherwise, all players listed are Americans who played at U.S. colleges.
* Danielle Adams, Texas A&M
* Jessica Breland, North Carolina
* Liz Cambage, Bulleen Boomers (Australia)
* Sydney Colson, Texas A&M
* Victoria Dunlap, Kentucky
* Amber Harris, Xavier
* Jantel Lavender, Ohio State
* Maya Moore, Connecticut
* Kayla Pedersen, Stanford
* Ta'Shia Phillips, Xavier
* Jeanette Pohlen, Stanford
* Danielle Robinson, Oklahoma
* Carolyn Swords, Boston College
* Jasmine Thomas, Duke
* Courtney Vandersloot, Gonzaga

## Transactions

* March 11, 2010: Atlanta and San Antonio swap second-round picks as part of the Michelle Snow transaction.
* April 7, 2010: Connecticut receives a second-round pick from Tulsa as part of the Chante Black/Amber Holt transaction.
* April 8, 2010: Minnesota receives Connecticut's first-round pick and Tulsa's second-round pick from Connecticut as part of the Kelsey Griffin transaction.
* May 13, 2010: Chicago receives a second-round pick from Los Angeles as part of the Kristi Toliver transaction.
* May 27, 2010: Tulsa receives a second-round pick from Indiana as part of the Shavonte Zellous transaction.
* July 23, 2010: Tulsa receives a first-round pick from Phoenix as part of the Kara Braxton/Nicole Ohlde transaction.
Source

## Key

| * | Denotes player who has been selected for at least one All-Star Game and All-WNBA Team |
| $^+$ | Denotes player who has been selected for at least one All-Star Game |
| Bold | Denotes player who won Rookie of the Year |

## Draft selections
### Round 1

| Pick | Player | Nationality | Team | School / club team |
| 1 | Maya Moore $^+$ | United States | Minnesota Lynx | Connecticut |
| 2 | Liz Cambage $^+$ | Australia | Tulsa Shock | Bulleen Boomers (Australia) |
| 3 | Courtney Vandersloot $^+$ | United States | Chicago Sky | Gonzaga |
| 4 | Amber Harris | United States | Minnesota Lynx (from Conn.) | Xavier |
| 5 | Jantel Lavender $^+$ | United States | Los Angeles Sparks | Ohio State |
| 6 | Danielle Robinson $^+$ | United States | San Antonio Silver Stars | Oklahoma |
| 7 | Kayla Pedersen | United States | Tulsa Shock (from Phx.) | Stanford |
| 8 | Ta'Shia Phillips | United States | Atlanta Dream (traded to Wash.) | Xavier |
| 9 | Jeanette Pohlen | United States | Indiana Fever | Stanford |
| 10 | Alex Montgomery | United States | New York Liberty | Georgia Tech |
| 11 | Victoria Dunlap | United States | Washington Mystics | Kentucky |
| 12 | Jasmine Thomas $^+$ | United States | Seattle Storm | Duke |

### Round 2

| Pick | Player | Nationality | Team | School / club team |
| 13 | Jessica Breland $^+$ | United States | Minnesota Lynx (from Tul. via Conn.; traded to N.Y.) | North Carolina |
| 14 | Felicia Chester | United States | Minnesota Lynx (traded to Atl.) | DePaul |
| 15 | Carolyn Swords | United States | Chicago Sky | Boston College |
| 16 | Sydney Colson | United States | Connecticut Sun (traded to N.Y.) | Texas A&M |
| 17 | Angie Bjorklund | United States | Chicago Sky (from L.A.) | Tennessee |
| 18 | Rachel Jarry | Australia | Atlanta Dream (from S.A.; traded to Minn.) | Bulleen Boomers (Australia) |
| 19 | Brittany Spears | United States | Phoenix Mercury | Colorado |
| 20 | Danielle Adams | United States | San Antonio Silver Stars (from Atl.) | Texas A&M |
| 21 | Italee Lucas | United States | Tulsa Shock (from Ind.) | North Carolina |
| 22 | Angel Robinson | United States | New York Liberty (traded to Minn.) | Marquette |
| 23 | Karima Christmas | United States | Washington Mystics | Duke |
| 24 | Ify Ibekwe | United States | Seattle Storm | Arizona |

### Round 3

| Pick | Player | Nationality | Team | School / club team |
| 25 | Chastity Reed | United States | Tulsa Shock | Arkansas–Little Rock |
| 26 | Kachine Alexander | United States | Minnesota Lynx | Iowa |
| 27 | Amy Jaeschke | United States | Chicago Sky | Northwestern |
| 28 | Adrienne Johnson | United States | Connecticut Sun | Louisiana Tech |
| 29 | Elina Babkina (pick later voided) | Latvia | Los Angeles Sparks | Lotos VBW Clima Gdynia (Poland) |
| 30 | Porsha Phillips | United States | San Antonio Silver Stars | Georgia |
| 31 | Tahnee Robinson | United States | Phoenix Mercury (traded to Conn.) | Nevada |
| 32 | Kelsey Bolte | United States | Atlanta Dream | Iowa State |
| 33 | Jori Davis | United States | Indiana Fever | Indiana |
| 34 | Mekia Valentine | United States | New York Liberty | UC Santa Barbara |
| 35 | Sara Krnjić | Serbia | Washington Mystics | Pécs 2010 (Hungary) |
| 36 | Krystal Thomas | United States | Seattle Storm | Duke |