The importance of the No. 1 overall pick in the WNBA Draft simply can’t be overstated. Over the first 25 years of the league, whether looking at individual accolades or team success, the connection to the No. 1 overall pick in the draft is undeniable.

No. 1 picks and championship success

Of the 25 championship teams in league history, 17 have had at least one No. 1 overall pick on its roster – beginning with Tina Thompson with the Houston Comets in 1997 all the way to Candace Parker with the Chicago Sky in 2021.

• 1997 (Houston): Tina Thompson (1997 No. 1 pick)
• 1998 (Houston): Thompson
• 1999 (Houston): Thompson
• 2000 (Houston): Thompson
• 2004 (Seattle): Sue Bird (2002 No. 1 pick) and Lauren Jackson (2001 No. 1 pick)
• 2007 (Phoenix): Diana Taurasi (2004 No. 1 pick)
• 2009 (Phoenix): Taurasi
• 2010 (Seattle): Bird and Jackson
• 2011 (Minnesota): Seimone Augustus (2006 No. 1 pick) and Maya Moore (2011 No. 1 pick)
• 2013 (Minnesota): Augustus, Moore and Janel McCarville (2005 No. 1 pick)
• 2014 (Phoenix): Taurasi and Brittney Griner (2013 No. 1 pick)
• 2015 (Minnesota): Augustus and Moore
• 2016 (Los Angeles): Candace Parker (2008 No. 1 pick), Nneka Ogwumike (2012 No. 1 pick), Ann Wauters (2000 No. 1 pick)
• 2017 (Minnesota): Augustus and Moore
• 2018 (Seattle): Bird, Jewell Loyd (2015 No. 1 pick) and Breanna Stewart (2016 No. 1 pick)
• 2020 (Seattle): Bird, Loyd and Stewart
• 2021 (Chicago): Parker

Of the 13 former No. 1 overall picks that have gone on to win a WNBA title, 11 did so with the team that drafted them. The only exceptions are Ann Wauters (drafted by Cleveland in 2000, won title with Los Angeles in 2016) and Janel McCarville (drafted by Charlotte in 2005, won title with Minnesota in 2013 – but in both of those cases their original team had already ceased operations when they won their championship.

The only No. 1 overall pick to win championships with multiple teams is Candace Parker, who led the Sparks – the team that drafted her first overall in 2008 – to the 2016 championship and then led her hometown Chicago Sky to the 2021 championship.

No. 1 picks and individual honors

The WNBA first awarded the Rookie of the Year award in 1998 – following the second season of play. Of the 24 players that have been named the top rookie in the league, 12 have been the No. 1 overall pick in that year’s draft. This included a run of eight winners in a nine-year span from 2008 to 2016. Over the past five seasons, only A’ja Wilson (2018) has won ROY honors as the No. 1 pick in the draft.

• 1999: Chamique Holdsclaw (Washington)
• 2004: Diana Taurasi (Phoenix)
• 2006: Seimone Augustus (Minnesota)
• 2008: Candace Parker (Los Angeles)
• 2009: Angel McCoughty (Atlanta)
• 2010: Tina Charles (Connecticut)
• 2011: Maya Moore (Minnesota)
• 2012: Nneka Ogwumike (Los Angeles)
• 2014: Chiney Ogwunike (Connecticut)
• 2015: Jewell Loyd (Seattle)
• 2016: Breanna Stewart (Seattle)
• 2018: A’ja Wilson (Las Vegas)

When it comes to the league’s top individual honor – Most Valuable Player – the connection to the No. 1 overall pick is considerably strong, particularly over the past 15 years. Keep in mind, when the WNBA was first formed in 1997, some of the top players in the world were allocated to teams and did not go through the draft process. The same happened in 1999 when the rival ABL ceased operations and veteran players were added to the WNBA through an allocation process.

In the first decade of the WNBA, eight of the league’s 10 MVP honors went to three allocated players: Cynthia Copper (1997, 1998), Sheryl Swoopes (2000, 2002, 2005) and Lisa Leslie (2001, 2004, 2006). The only drafted players to win MVP honors in the first decade of play were Yolanda Griffith in 1999 (No. 2 overall pick in 1999) and Lauren Jackson in 2003 (No. 1 overall pick in 2002).

Overall, eight former No. 1 overall picks have won a combined 11 MVP honors – and all have done so with the team that drafted them. Jackson (2003, 2007, 2010) and Candace Parker (2008, 2013) are the only former No. 1 picks with multiple MVPs.

• 2003: Lauren Jackson (Seattle)
• 2007: Lauren Jackson (Seattle)
• 2008: Candace Parker (Los Angeles)
• 2009: Diana Taurasi (Phoenix)
• 2010: Lauren Jackson (Seattle)
• 2012: Tina Charles (Connecticut)
• 2013: Candace Parker (Los Angeles)
• 2014: Maya Moore (Minnesota)
• 2016: Nneka Ogwumike (Los Angeles)
• 2018: Breanna Stewart (Seattle)
• 2020: A’ja Wilson (Las Vegas)

Of the 17 times that a drafted player has won league MVP honors, it has gone to either the No. 1 overall pick (the 11 times listed above), the No. 2 selection (four times: Griffith in 1999, Elena Delle Donne in 2015 and 2019 and Sylvia Fowles in 2017), the No. 3 choice (once, Tamika Catchings in 2011) and to the player taken at No. 6 (Jonquel Jones in 2021).

That’s right, the lowest draft pick to ever win WNBA league MVP honors is No. 6 overall. Compare that to the NBA, which just saw No. 41 pick Nikola Jokic become its lowest drafted league MVP in 2020-21. If we look back at the previous 25 years of the NBA, only five No. 1 overall picks have won league MVP honors (LeBron James 4x, Tim Duncan 2x, Shaquille O’Neal, Allen Iverson and Derrick Rose).

The average draft position of the 17 drafted players that have won WNBA MVP honors is 1.65. Over the past 25 seasons, the NBA average is 7.56 and the NFL average is 44.4 and does not include two MVPs won by an undrafted player.

No. 1 picks active in WNBA’s landmark 25^th season

Fifteen No. 1 overall picks were active in the WNBA in 2021, the league’s 25^th season, including all but one player dating back to the 2008 Draft. The exception is 2011 No. 1 pick Maya Moore, who walked away from the game in 2019 to focus on social justice reform. Moore left the game in the prime of her career, with four championships and one league MVP honor already to her credit in her first eight seasons in the WNBA.

There are the two players that pre-date the 2008 Draft and they are two players that have defied Father Time and continue to perform at All-Star levels nearly two decades after being drafted into the WNBA – Sue Bird (2002) and Diana Taurasi (2004).

Sue Bird (2002)

• Seattle: 2002 through 2021; completed her 18^th season
• All-time leader in games played and assists
• WNBA 25 team member, four-time WNBA champion, three-time assist leader

Diana Taurasi (2004)

• Phoenix: 2004 through 2021; completed her 17^th season
• All-time leader in points scored in regular season and playoffs
• WNBA 25 team member, three-time WNBA champion, two-time Finals MVP, one league MVP, five-time scoring champion, one-time assist leader

Candace Parker (2008)

• Los Angeles: 2008 to 2020
• Chicago: 2021; completed her 14^th season
• WNBA 25 team member, two-time WNBA champion, two-time league MVP, one Finals MVP, one Defesnive Player of the Year, three-time rebound leader

Angel McCoughtry (2009)

• Atlanta: 2009 to 2019
• Las Vegas: 2020 through 2021;completed her 12^th season
• Minnesota: signed in offseason
• WNBA 25 team member, two-time scoring champion, two-time steals leader

Tina Charles (2010)

• Connecticut: 2010 to 2013
• New York: 2014 to 2019
• Washington: 2021;completed her 11^th season
• Phoenix: signed in offseason
• WNBA 25 team member, four-time rebound champion, two-time scoring champion, one league MVP

Nneka Ogwumike (2012)

• Los Angeles: 2012 through 2021;completed her 10^th season
• WNBA 25 team member, one-time WNBA champion, one league MVP

Brittney Griner (2013)

• Phoenix: 2013 through 2021; completed her 9^th season
• WNBA 25 team member, one-time WNBA champion, two-time Defensive Player of the Year, eight-time blocks champion, two-time scoring champion

Chiney Ogwumike (2014)

• Connecticut: 2014 to 2018 (missed 2015 and 2017 due to injury)
• Los Angeles: 2019 through 2021; completed her 5^th season

Jewell Loyd (2015)

• Seattle: 2015 through 2021; completed her 7^th season
• Two-time WNBA champion

Breanna Stewart (2016)

• Seattle: 2016 through 2021; completed her 5^th season
• WNBA 25 team member, two-time WNBA champion, two-time Finals MVP, one league MVP

Kelsey Plum (2017)

• San Antonio/Las Vegas; 2017 through 2021, completed her 4^th season
• One-time Sixth Woman of the Year

A’ja Wilson (2018)

• Las Vegas: 2018 through 2021; completed her 4^th season
• One-time league MVP, one-time blocks leader

Jackie Young (2019)

• Las Vegas: 2019 through 2021; completed her 3^rd season

Sabrina Ionescu (2020)

• New York: 2020 through 2021; completed her 2^nd season

Charli Collier (2021)

• Dallas: 2021; completed her 1^st season

Of the 15 No. 1 overall picks active at the end of the 2021 season, 11 were playing for the team that drafted them, with the exceptions being Parker in Chicago, Chiney Ogwumike in Los Angeles, McCoughtry in Vegas and Charles in Washington. Six of those 15 players have won league MVP honors (Taurasi, Parker 2x, Charles, N Ogwumike, Stewart and Wilson), while three have won Finals MVP honors (Taurasi 2x, Stewart 2x and Parker).

Only two other No. 1 overall picks have completed the MVP double. Maya Moore won MVP honors in 2014 and was named Finals MVP in 2013 as Minnesota won its second of four titles. Lauren Jackson won three MVPs (2003, 2007, 2010) and pulled off the same-season double by winning Finals MVP in 2010 as Seattle won its second title.

Whichever player is selected with the first overall pick in this year’s draft on April 11, they will join an elite group of players that have been integral to the history of the WNBA. The Washington Mystics are on the clock with the first overall pick and are only two seasons removed from winning their first WNBA title back in 2019. Can the first selection help lift the Mystics back to prominence after two years filled with setbacks? History would suggest the answer to be yes, but of course, it will all be decided once the season gets underway in May.

Longtime WNBA reporter Brian Martin writes articles on WNBA.com throughout the season. The views on this page do not necessarily reflect the views of the WNBA or its clubs.

NCAA players mentioned in this article will become eligible for the 2022 draft at such point as they renounce their remaining NCAA eligibility and thereby make themselves available for the draft.