ATLANTA (September 23, 2015) – The Atlanta Dream will have 104 chances out of 1,000 total to earn the No. 1 pick in the 2016 WNBA Draft when it takes part in the 2016 WNBA Draft Lottery on Thursday night, which will be televised live to a national audience on ESPN2.

The telecast, hosted by anchor Matt Barrie, will air during halftime of Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals featuring the Phoenix Mercury at the Minnesota Lynx, which tips off at 8 p.m. ET.  The winner of the Lottery will secure the top pick in the 2016 WNBA Draft presented by State Farm, to be conducted in April.

Atlanta head coach Michael Cooper will represent the Dream at the Lottery proceedings.  A representative from the accounting firm of Ernst & Young will be in attendance to oversee the Lottery process.

The Dream hold four of the top 16 overall selections in the 2016 WNBA Draft.  Atlanta will select at either No. 1-4 (based on lottery results), No. 11 (acquired from Minnesota), No. 13 (acquired from San Antonio) and No. 16.  The Dream also hold the No. 28 overall pick (third round).

Atlanta will have 104 ping pong balls in the cue, while Seattle will have the best odds with 442.  San Antonio (276) and Connecticut (178) will round out the four teams vying for a chance at the No. 1 overall selection in the 2016 WNBA Draft.

The 2016 WNBA Draft Lottery presented by State Farm will feature a new format for its 15^th annual drawing.

It will still feature the four teams that did not make the playoffs (the “Lottery teams”) during the 2015 season. However, instead of assigning odds based solely on the teams’ records during the 2015 season, the odds will be based on the cumulative records of the Lottery teams over the past two regular season campaigns (2014 and 2015).

The lottery will establish the first four picks of the draft.  The new format guarantees that the Lottery team with the worst two-year cumulative record will end up with at least the third pick.  Under the previous format, the Lottery team with the worst single-season record was guaranteed to pick no worse than fourth.  The two Lottery teams that do not come up in the lottery will then select in the inverse order of their two-year cumulative record.

The order of selection for the remainder of the first round as well as the second and third round is determined by inverse order of the teams’ respective regular-season records solely from 2015.

The following are the number of chances for teams to land the top pick in the 2016 WNBA Draft Lottery presented by State Farm:

LOTTERY TEAMS FOR 2016 WNBA DRAFT

Team                            Combined 2014-2015 Record     Chances (out of 1,000)

1. Seattle                                                 22-46                                             442
2. San Antonio                                       24-44                                             276
3. Connecticut                                       28-40                                             178
4. Atlanta                                                34-34                                             104

Following is the remaining order of the first round, as determined by 2015 regular-season records:

REMAINING ORDER FOR FIRST ROUND

        Team                                Record  

5. Los Angeles                               14-20
6. Tulsa                                           18-16
7. Washington                               18-16
8. Phoenix                                      20-14
9. Indiana                                       20-14
10. Chicago                                       21-13
11. Atlanta from Minnesota         22-12 (Trade of Fowles, DeSouza, Dantas, Gray, 7/26/15)
12. New York                                   23-11

This marks the fourth straight year that ESPN will televise the lottery.  In September 2012, the Phoenix Mercury won the Lottery, capturing the No.1 overall pick in the 2013 WNBA Draft presented by State Farm the following April.  Phoenix selected Baylor’s Brittney Griner with the first pick.  One year later, the Sun won the Lottery and went on to draft Chiney Ogwumike of Stanford at No. 1.  In the most recent Lottery, conducted in August 2014, the Storm landed the top pick, which the team used to select Notre Dame’s Jewell Loyd.

The three-time Eastern Conference Champion Atlanta Dream is in its eighth season in the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA).

The Dream plays their home games at Philips Arena.  Atlanta has qualified for the playoffs six times, winning conference titles in 2013, 2011 and 2010.