The

Women's National Basketball Association The Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) is a women's professional basketball league in the United States. The league comprises 13 teams (scheduled to expand to 15 in 2026). The WNBA is headquartered in Midtown Manhattan. The WNBA w ...

(WNBA) held their first

expansion draft An expansion draft, in professional sports, occurs when a sports league decides to create one or more new expansion teams or sports franchising, franchises. This occurs mainly in Sports in North America, North American sports and closed leagues. O ...

on February 18, 1998 for the

Detroit Shock The Detroit Shock were a Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) team based in Auburn Hills, Michigan. They were the 2003, 2006, and 2008 WNBA champions. Debuting in 1998, the Shock were one of the league's first expansion franchises. Th ...

and the

Washington Mystics The Washington Mystics are an American professional basketball team based in Washington, D.C. The Mystics compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member of the Eastern Conference (WNBA), Eastern Conference. The team was ...

. This draft allowed the two new expansion teams to select players from the existing eight WNBA teams to fill their debut rosters prior to the start of the

1998 WNBA season The 1998 WNBA season was the Women's National Basketball Association's second season. The 1998 season saw two expansion teams join the league, the Detroit Shock and Washington Mystics with an expansion draft being held on February 18, 1998. The e ...

Key

Initial player allocation

Prior to the expansion draft, the WNBA allocated four players to the

and the

on January 27, 1998 in no particular order.

Expansion draft

The following players were drafted for the rosters of the Shock and Mystics from the league's existing teams:

Notes

References

{{1998 WNBA season by team 1998 WNBA season WNBA draft