WNBA elite draft


In 1997, the Women's National Basketball Association was created. In order to give new teams reasonable talent, the league decided to have two drafts. There was the normal collegiate draft that most professional sports leagues hold. There was also the WNBA elite draft. The elite draft allowed teams to pick players that have already graduated from college and have gone on to play professionally on other American teams or overseas.
The following is the list of how players were picked in the 1997 WNBA elite draft. After this draft, the normal collegiate draft took place.

Round 1

Round 2

PickPlayerNationalityWNBA TeamSchool/Club Team
9Wendy Palmer Utah StarzzVirginia
10Lynette Woodard Cleveland RockersKansas
11Michi Atkins Charlotte StingTexas Tech
12Vickie Johnson New York LibertyLouisiana Tech
13Janeth Arcain Houston CometsBrazil
14Mikiko Hagiwara Sacramento MonarchsJapan
15Nancy Lieberman-Cline Phoenix MercuryOld Dominion
16Zheng Haixia Los Angeles SparksChina