2027 WNBA Draft Lottery: Which team needs the No. 1 overall pick the most in the JuJu Watkins sweepstakes?

The Comets and Tempo have the best odds to get the top pick on Sunday night, but four other teams are in the mix Nov 13, 2026 at 11:20 am ET • 8 min read The 2027 WNBA Draft Lottery is just days away. Come Sunday night, we'll learn the full order for the 2027 WNBA Draft, including which team has the No. 1 overall pick and the right to draft USC star JuJu Watkins. The lottery will take place following the top-10 matchup between No. 4 UConn and No. 7 Louisville. Watkins, by far the best prospect in this class, missed all of her junior season with a torn ACL, but returned to action earlier this month. In her first three games back, she's averaging 24.3 points, 8.3 rebounds, 4.7 assists, 3.7 steals and a block. She has not yet officially declared for the draft and is eligible to return to school for the 2027-28 season due to her medical redshirt, though that would be a surprise. The Houston Comets and Toronto Tempo will split the best odds for the No. 1 overall pick. The WNBA uses two-season aggregate records to determine lottery odds, but for last season's expansion teams, the Tempo and Portland Fire, only their 2026 record was considered. The Comets (as the Connecticut Sun) went 22-66 over the last two seasons, while the Tempo were 11-33 in their inaugural campaign. Because the teams had identical .250 winning percentages, the league combined each team's lottery combinations and divided them evenly. There were an even number of combinations, which means the teams will have identical odds for the No. 1 overall pick. If there had been an odd number of combinations, the Comets would have received the extra combination by virtue of losing the tiebreaker last season. In addition to the Comets and Tempo, this year's lottery crew includes the Chicago Sky, Seattle Storm, Phoenix Mercury and Los Angeles Sparks. However, those will not be the seven teams drafting in the lottery. The Sky owe the Washington Mystics a first-round pick swap, while the Mercury traded their first-round pick to the Sparks, who will have two lottery selections as a result. It is important to note, however, that lottery odds are based on the team that originally owned the pick. How to watch 2027 WNBA Draft LotteryDate: Sunday, Nov. 15 | Time: 7:30 p.m. ETTV: ESPN2027 WNBA Draft Lottery oddsTeamCombined 2025 and 2026 recordOdds of winning No. 1 pickComets 22-66 (.250) 32.9% Tempo 11-33 (.250)* 32.9% Sky (owe to Mystics) 26-62 (.295) 16.1% Storm 31-57 (.352) 9.3% Fire 17-27 (.386)* 5.2% Sparks 37-51 (.420) 2.4% Mercury (owe to Sparks) 43-45 (.489) 1.2% *These teams were expansion teams in 2026, so only the 2026 record is includedWhich team needs the No. 1 pick the most?6. Washington Mystics The Mystics went 14-4 after the All-Star break last season – tied for the best record in the league in that span – to surge to the No. 5 seed and make the playoffs for the first time since 2023. And though they lost to the Atlanta Dream in the first round, they have one of the brightest futures in the league. Shakira Austin, Kiki Iriafen and Sonia Citron are an awesome core; they made the playoffs with the youngest roster in the league last season and waiver wire pick-up Betnijah Laney-Hamilton is their only free agent this winter. Plus, with only $1.19 million in guaranteed money on their books for 2027, they have all sorts of flexibility to chase one of the big name free agents in this year's class. Winning the No. 1 pick would be a huge bonus for the Mystics – and they have a legitimate chance to do so with the third-best odds, thanks to the Sky – but they'll be fine no matter where they wind up in the lottery, especially with all of the perimeter talent at the top of this class that could give their offense some much-needed juice. 5. Toronto Tempo The expansion Tempo pulled off one of the most incredible tanking efforts in league history last season when they went 2-24 over their last 26 games to chase down the Sun (now Comets) for an even share of the best lottery odds. They even lost to the Sun on the final day of the season in that franchise's last-ever game in Uncasville, Connecticut, to finish the job. Before a horrible string of injuries set the tank in motion, though, the Tempo were 9-9 with the No. 4 offense in the league, with Marina Mabrey leading the way. Would they have made the playoffs if everyone had stayed healthy? Probably not, but this roster, at full strength, is far better than an 11-win team. In Mabrey, Brittney Sykes, 2026 first-round pick Kiki Rice and Julie Allemand, the Tempo have one of the most balanced backcourts in the league. Plus, Sandy Brondello is a championship-level coach and free agents made it clear last offseason that they were willing to play in Toronto. The Tempo still need a lot of help in the frontcourt and on the defensive end, but winning the No. 1 pick is not make-or-break for them, as it is with some other franchises. 4. Seattle StormThe Storm went 8-36 last season, which was the worst record in the league by three games. Their 36 defeats were the most in a single season by any team in league history, and their .182 winning percentage was the worst in franchise history. So why aren't they higher on this list? Well, they've added top-three picks in consecutive drafts in Dominique Malonga and Awa Fam, as well as the No. 8 pick in 2026 in Flau'jae Johnson. Malonga made the All-Star team last season, and both she and Fam are still only 20 years old – they are the two youngest players in the league – while Johnson is coming off an All-Rookie campaign. The Storm are so young that their timeline may be longer than a typical rebuild, and they do still need some help, particularly in the backcourt, where their lack of a true point guard was glaring at times last season. However, having Malonga, Fam and Johnson in place means they aren't as desperate for a foundational piece as some of the other lottery teams. 3. Portland Fire The Fire wildly outperformed expectations during their inaugural season thanks to a breakout campaign from star point guard Carla Leite, excellent coaching by Alex Sarama and the collective motivation of a players who were unprotected in the expansion draft. But as exciting as the Fire were to watch at times last season, they still only finished 17-27 and missed the playoffs by nine games. Looking long-term, they would have been better off being worse and getting better lottery odds. As it is, they have the fifth-best chance of picking No. 1. Leite proved last season that she can run an offense, and 2026 first-round pick Iyana Martin, who was excellent at the World Cup for Spain, is expected to come over in 2027. However, the Fire's two most talented players are both small point guards, and the roster is still short on top-level talent. As we've seen for decades in the NBA, Portland is not a free agent destination. The Fire, more so than most teams, will need to build through the draft, and will have their fingers crossed that they get some lottery luck. 2. Houston Comets In March, Tilman Fertitta bought the Connecticut Sun for a record-setting $300 million from the Mohegan Tribe in a controversial deal that included a plan to move the franchise to Houston and revive the Comets – one of the league's original teams and its first dynasty. (The Comets won the first four WNBA championships from 1997-2000, and remain the only team to win four consecutive titles.) The new era of Comets basketball will begin on Sunday with the Draft Lottery, which could be the first step toward bringing the glory days back to Houston. After a semifinal exit in 2024, the franchise suffered a mass exodus of talent, both on and off the court, and is yet to recover. As the Sun, they went 11-33 in each of the last two seasons, but due to a third-place finish in 2024 and a 2026 first-round pick swap they owed the Sky, this will be their first lottery pick since they started their rebuild. As bad as the team's record was the last two seasons, there are some interesting young players on the roster, including Leîla Lacan, Olivia Nelson-Ododa, Aaliyah Edwards, Saniya Rivers, Nell Angloma and Charlisse Leger-Walker. The issue is that all of them, aside perhaps from Lacan, profile as complementary players. The Comets desperately need a franchise player, and the draft is still the easiest way to get one. Winning the No. 1 pick and the right to draft JuJu Watkins would immediately give the Comets one of the brightest futures in the league. 1. Los Angeles Sparks No team needs the No. 1 pick more than the Sparks, who haven't been to the playoffs since the bubble season in 2020, which is the longest active postseason drought in the league and the longest active one in franchise history. In fact, the Sparks have missed the playoffs more times (six) during this current drought than they did in their first 24 seasons of existence (four). A disastrous attempt to go all-in over the last two seasons cost former general manager Raegan Pebley and former coach Lynne Roberts their jobs, and has left the Sparks with the worst roster situation in the league. The Sparks traded the pick that ended up being Dominique Malonga for Kelsey Plum, who only played 55 games for the franchise before they traded her at the deadline for Monique Akoa Makani, the Mercury's 2027 first-round pick and 2028 second-round pick. They traded former lottery pick Rickea Jackson for Ariel Atkins, gave Atkins a three-year deal at just under the max, then watched her average 8.5 points on 38.1% shooting last season. Franchise icon Nneka Ogwumike retired after returning to the franchise for one season and they still owe Dearica Hamby just under $2.3 million over the next two seasons. Former No. 2 overall pick Cameron Brink, the lone young player on the roster with All-Star potential, has played just 65 games in three seasons due to a series of injuries, including a torn ACL, and only has one year left on her contract. To make matters worse, the Sparks were just competitive enough in the last two seasons that they have the second-worst odds at the No. 1 overall pick. And the first-rounder they got from the Mercury? That has the worst odds of being the No. 1 pick. Even with two selections, it would be a miracle if the Sparks win the lottery. New general manager Ariana Andonian, who has yet to hire a new coach, has her work cut out to get the Sparks back on track.