In the modern WNBA, nearly every championship team has walked the same path: stink for a while, wind up with multiple No. 1 overall picks, draft a few generational players, win titles. That may sound reductive, but it's a basic formula that has proven successful time and time and time again. We don't yet know whether the Golden State Valkyries or Atlanta Dream will take home the title this season.
But we do know that no matter what, that pattern will be broken. There is only one No. 1 overall pick playing in these Finals -- Rhyne Howard, who the Dream selected with the top pick in 2022. In fact, the only other lottery pick in this series is Allisha Gray, whom the Dallas Wings selected with the No. 4 pick in 2017.
The Dream had to make trades to acquire both players. Dating back to 2010, 12 of the last 16 champions have had at least two No. 1 overall picks that they drafted on the roster. The 2024 New York Liberty also had two No. 1 overall picks, but only drafted one of them (Sabrina Ionescu), while the 2021 Chicago Sky had one No. 1 overall pick (Candace Parker) and did not draft her.
The only two champions in the last 16 years without a No. 1 overall pick were the 2019 Washington Mystics and 2012 Indiana Fever -- and they both had first-ballot Hall of Famers in Elena Delle Donne (No. 2 pick in 2013) and Tamika Catchings (No. 3 pick in 2001). While four of the eight playoff teams this season had multiple No. 1 overall picks -- the Wings, Fever, Aces and Liberty -- none of them made the Finals. Breanna Stewart (2016), Sabrina Ionescu (2020) Kelsey Plum (2017), A'ja Wilson (2018), Jackie Young (2019) Sue Bird (2002), Jewell Loyd (2015), Breanna Stewart (2016) Seimone Augustus (2006), Maya Moore (2011) Candace Parker (2008), Nneka Ogwumike (2016) Diana Taurasi (2004), Brittney Griner (2013) Janel McCarville (2005), Seimone Augustus (2006), Maya Moore (2011) Players not drafted by title-winning team in italics Rather than relying on lottery luck and high draft picks, these two teams found a different way to the WNBA Finals.
The Dream have spent the past five years being active on the trade market, acquiring talent that isn't just highly touted, but that fits the system and culture they're establishing in Atlanta. The Valkyries, meanwhile, took a unique approach to the expansion draft and free agency to build a team of players who have a chip permanently embedded in their shoulders, allowing them to turbo-charge a typical expansion timeline and find success immediately. Before the best-of-seven WNBA Finals tips off on Saturday, let's take a deep dive into how these championship-contending rosters were assembled.
Dan Padover was hired as the Dream's general manager and vice president of basketball operations on Oct. 25, 2021, and got to work immediately with a pair of blockbuster deals that would set the course for his tenure in Atlanta. On April 5, 2022, he traded former lottery pick Chennedy Carter and the rights to Li Yueru to the Los Angeles Sparks for Erica Wheeler, the No. 15 overall pick in the 2022 WNBA Draft and the Sparks' 2023 first-round pick. One day later, he made an even bigger splash by trading the Nos. 3 and 14 overall selections in the 2022 WNBA Draft, and swap rights to the Sparks' 2023 first-round pick to the Washington Mystics for the No. 1 overall pick in the 2022 WNBA Draft.
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