The road to the No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 WNBA Draft begins later this month, and the Dallas Wings stand atop the list of contenders.

The league announced Friday that the 2026 WNBA Draft Lottery will air Sunday, Nov. 23, at 6:30 p.m. ET on ESPN, with WNBA Head of League Operations Bethany Donaphin revealing the results live. The 30-minute broadcast marks the 14th consecutive year that ESPN networks will present the event, which will determine the draft order among the five teams that missed the 2025 postseason. The 2026 WNBA Draft itself is scheduled for Monday, April 13, 2026.

After a 19–65 cumulative record over the past two seasons, the Dallas Wings enter the drawing with the highest odds of landing the No. 1 overall selection. The Wings hold 420 of 1,000 possible lottery combinations, guaranteeing them a top-three pick. For a franchise that already drafted Paige Bueckers first overall in 2025, the possibility of pairing another top prospect with her could accelerate Dallas’ rebuild after a last-place finish.

The Minnesota Lynx hold the second-best odds to secure the top pick, with 261 combinations out of 1,000. That pick originally belonged to the Chicago Sky but was acquired by Minnesota in an April 2024 trade. The Seattle Storm follow with 167 chances after acquiring the Los Angeles Sparks’ first-round selection in a January 2024 deal that sent Kia Nurse to Los Angeles. The Sparks’ combined two-year record of 29–55 contributed to Seattle’s positioning.

The Washington Mystics, with a cumulative record of 30–54, have 97 chances to win the lottery, while the Chicago Sky round out the field with 55 chances. Chicago’s pick originally belonged to the Connecticut Sun, acquired in a July 2024 transaction involving multiple players and future assets.

During the lottery drawing, 14 balls numbered 1 through 14 will be placed into a machine and mixed. Four balls will be drawn to form a four-digit combination, determining which team earns the No. 1 pick. The balls will then be replaced and the process repeated to determine the No. 2 pick. Of the remaining three teams, the one with the worst cumulative record will receive the third selection, followed by the next worst, and so on.

A representative from the independent accounting firm Ernst & Young will oversee the procedure to ensure fairness and accuracy, as has been tradition in past WNBA lotteries.

The Wings’ commanding position sets the stage for a potentially franchise-defining moment. With Bueckers already emerging as one of the league’s brightest stars, Dallas will look to build further around its young core — and another fortunate draw on Nov. 23 could dramatically reshape the Wings’ future once again.

Lottery odds (out of 1,000 combinations): Dallas Wings — 420; Minnesota Lynx (from Chicago Sky) — 261; Seattle Storm (from Los Angeles Sparks) — 167; Washington Mystics — 97; Chicago Sky (from Connecticut Sun) — 55.