# 2012 WNBA draft

The 2012 WNBA draft was 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 16, 2012, at the ESPN studios in Bristol, Connecticut. The first round was shown on ESPN2 (HD), with the second and third rounds shown on NBA TV and ESPNU.

## Draft lottery

The lottery selection to determine the order of the top four picks in the 2012 draft occurred on November 10, 2011. The Los Angeles Sparks won the first pick, while the Chicago Sky, Minnesota Lynx and Tulsa Shock 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 2012 draft lottery, rounded to three decimal places:
| Team | 2011 record | Lottery chances | Pick | Pick | Pick | Pick |
| Team | 2011 record | Lottery chances | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th |
| Tulsa Shock | 3–31 | 442 | .442 | .316 | .181 | .062 |
| Minnesota Lynx (from Was.) | 6–28 | 276 | .276 | .310 | .270 | .144 |
| Seattle Storm (from Chi.) | 14–20 | 178 | .178 | .230 | .317 | .275 |
| Los Angeles Sparks | 15–19 | 104 | .104 | .145 | .232 | .520 |
| Shaded block denotes actual lottery result. ||||||||

## Invited players

The WNBA announced on April 11, 2012, that 15 players had been invited to attend the draft. Unless indicated otherwise, all players listed are Americans who played at U.S. colleges.
* LaSondra Barrett, LSU
* Vicki Baugh, Tennessee
* Sasha Goodlett, Georgia Tech
* Tiffany Hayes, Connecticut
* Glory Johnson, Tennessee
* Shenise Johnson, Miami (FL)
* Lynetta Kizer, Maryland
* Natalie Novosel, Notre Dame
* Nneka Ogwumike, Stanford
* Devereaux Peters, Notre Dame
* Samantha Prahalis, Ohio State
* Kayla Standish, Gonzaga
* Shekinna Stricklen, Tennessee
* Riquna Williams, Miami (FL)
* Julie Wojta, Green Bay

## Transactions

* February 1, 2011: Los Angeles acquired a second-round pick from Tulsa as part of the Andrea Riley transaction.
* April 11, 2011: Minnesota acquired a second-round pick from Atlanta as part of the Felicia Chester/Rachel Jarry transaction.
* April 11, 2011: Atlanta acquired a second-round pick from Washington as part of the Lindsey Harding trade.
* April 11, 2011: Washington acquired a first-round pick from Atlanta as part of the Lindsey Harding trade.
* April 11, 2011: Phoenix acquired a third-round pick from Connecticut as part of the Tahnee Robinson transaction.
* April 11, 2011: Minnesota acquired a second-round pick from New York as part of the Jessica Breland transaction.
* April 11, 2011: Minnesota acquired a first-round pick from Washington as part of the Nicky Anosike trade.
* April 29, 2011: Indiana acquired a third-round pick from Seattle as part of the Katie Smith/Erin Phillips three-team trade.
* April 29, 2011: Washington acquired a first-round pick from Seattle and a third-round pick from Indiana as part of the Katie Smith/Erin Phillips three-team trade.
* April 29, 2011: Seattle acquired a second-round pick from Indiana as part of the Katie Smith/Erin Phillips three-team trade.
* May 2, 2011: Tulsa acquired second- and third-round picks from San Antonio as part of the Scholanda Robinson transaction.
* May 27, 2011: Minnesota has the right to swap third-round picks with New York as part of the Quanitra Hollingsworth transaction.
* June 1, 2011: Los Angeles acquired a second-round pick from Chicago as part of the Lindsay Wisdom-Hylton trade.
* January 2, 2012: Seattle acquired the second overall pick from Chicago and Chicago acquired the 23rd overall pick from Seattle as part of the Swin Cash trade.
* February 28, 2012: Phoenix traded the 18th pick to Minnesota in exchange for Charde Houston and the 24th pick.
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 | Nneka Ogwumike $^+$ | United States | Los Angeles Sparks | Stanford |
| 2 | Shekinna Stricklen | United States | Seattle Storm (from Chi.) | Tennessee |
| 3 | Devereaux Peters | United States | Minnesota Lynx (from Was.) | Notre Dame |
| 4 | Glory Johnson $^+$ | United States | Tulsa Shock | Tennessee |
| 5 | Shenise Johnson | United States | San Antonio Silver Stars | Miami (FL) |
| 6 | Samantha Prahalis | United States | Phoenix Mercury | Ohio State |
| 7 | Kelley Cain | United States | New York Liberty | Tennessee |
| 8 | Natalie Novosel | United States | Washington Mystics (from Atl.) | Notre Dame |
| 9 | Astan Dabo | Mali | Connecticut Sun | Reims Basket (France) |
| 10 | LaSondra Barrett | United States | Washington Mystics (from Sea.) | LSU |
| 11 | Sasha Goodlett | United States | Indiana Fever | Georgia Tech |
| 12 | Damiris Dantas do Amaral | Brazil | Minnesota Lynx | CD Bosco-Celta de Vigo (Spain) |

### Round 2

| Pick | Player | Nationality | Team | School / club team |
| 13 | Farhiya Abdi | Sweden | Los Angeles Sparks (from Tul.) | Frisco SIKA (Czech Republic) |
| 14 | Tiffany Hayes $^+$ | United States | Atlanta Dream (from Was.) | Connecticut |
| 15 | Khadijah Rushdan | United States | Los Angeles Sparks (from Chi.) | Rutgers |
| 16 | Tyra White | United States | Los Angeles Sparks | Texas A&M |
| 17 | Riquna Williams $^+$ | United States | Tulsa Shock (from S.A.) | Miami (FL) |
| 18 | Julie Wojta | United States | Minnesota Lynx (from Pho.) | Green Bay |
| 19 | Kayla Standish | United States | Minnesota Lynx (from N.Y.) | Gonzaga |
| 20 | Nika Barič | Slovenia | Minnesota Lynx (from Atl.) | Spartak Moscow (Russia) |
| 21 | Chay Shegog | United States | Connecticut Sun | North Carolina |
| 22 | Keisha Hampton | United States | Seattle Storm | DePaul |
| 23 | Shey Peddy | United States | Chicago Sky (from Ind. via Sea.) | Temple |
| 24 | C'eira Ricketts | United States | Phoenix Mercury (from Minn.) | Arkansas |

### Round 3

| Pick | Player | Nationality | Team | School / club team |
| 25 | Vicki Baugh | United States | Tulsa Shock | Tennessee |
| 26 | Anjale Barrett | United States | Washington Mystics | Maryland |
| 27 | Sydney Carter | United States | Chicago Sky | Texas A&M |
| 28 | April Sykes | United States | Los Angeles Sparks | Rutgers |
| 29 | Lynetta Kizer | United States | Tulsa Shock (from S.A.) | Maryland |
| 30 | Christine Flores | United States | Phoenix Mercury | Missouri |
| 31 | Jacki Gemelos | United States | Minnesota Lynx (from N.Y.) | USC |
| 32 | Isabelle Yacoubou (pick later voided) | France | Atlanta Dream | Valencia (Spain) |
| 33 | Amanda Johnson | United States | Phoenix Mercury (from Conn.) | Oregon |
| 34 | Courtney Hurt [fr] | United States | Indiana Fever (from Sea.) | VCU |
| 35 | Briana Gilbreath | United States | Washington Mystics (from Ind.) | USC |
| 36 | Katelan Redmon | United States | New York Liberty (from Minn.) | Gonzaga |