BRISTOL, Conn. (September 24, 2015) – The Atlanta Dream will select No. 4 overall in the 2016 WNBA Draft following the results of the WNBA Draft Lottery, which was held Thursday night at ESPN headquarters in Bristol, Conn.

Seattle won the No. 1 overall selection while San Antonio captured the No. 2 pick.  Connecticut rounds out the Lottery teams and was slotted at No. 3 just ahead of Atlanta.

A representative from the accounting firm of Ernst & Young was 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 No. 4, 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 had 104 ping pong balls in the cue, while Seattle entered with the best odds at 442.  San Antonio (276) and Connecticut (178) rounded out the four teams vying for a chance at the No. 1 overall selection in the 2016 WNBA Draft.

Atlanta head coach Michael Cooper represented the Dream at the Lottery proceedings.

“We obviously need some help in the rebounding area but we just need an athlete, someone that can come in and flat out ball and can put the ball in the basket.  Someone that plays well with what we have and compliments the other players we currently have on the roster,” Cooper said.

The upcoming draft will mark the second time in the franchise’s history and the first since 2009 that Atlanta has made a selection in the top-four of the WNBA Draft, when it possessed the No. 1 overall selection and choose four-time WNBA All-Star Angel McCoughtry.

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

It still featured 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 were based on the cumulative records of the Lottery teams over the past two regular season campaigns (2014 and 2015).

The lottery established the first four picks of the draft.  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.

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

2016 WNBA FIRST ROUND DRAFT ORDER

1. Seattle
2. San Antonio
3. Connecticut
4. Atlanta
5. Los Angeles
6. Tulsa
7. Washington
8. Phoenix
9. Indiana
10. Chicago
11. Atlanta (from Minnesota)
12. New York

Following is the order of the second and third rounds, as determined by 2015 regular-season records:

2016 WNBA SECOND ROUND DRAFT ORDER

13. Atlanta (from San Antonio)
14. Minnesota (from Seattle)
15. Connecticut
16. Atlanta
17. Los Angeles
18. Tulsa
19. Washington
20. Phoenix
21. Indiana
22. Minnesota (from Chicago)
23. Connecticut (from Minnesota)
24. New York

2016 WNBA THIRD ROUND DRAFT ORDER

25. San Antonio
26. Seattle
27. Connecticut
28. Atlanta
29. Los Angeles
30. Tulsa
31. Washington
32. Phoenix
33. Indiana
34. Chicago
35. Minnesota
36. New York

The three-time Eastern Conference Champion Atlanta Dream is entering its ninth 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.