Sun, Tempo Split Best Odds for 2027 WNBA Draft No. 1 Pick — SkimNews
Get the Sports newsletter
Daily sports — scores, transfers, the storylines from the leagues you actually follow. Free.
- Connecticut Sun and Toronto Tempo will share the best odds for the No. 1 pick in the 2027 WNBA Draft, with both teams holding identical .250 winning percentages (Sun's two-season aggregate record 22-66, Tempo's single-season 11-33).
- If an odd number of lottery combinations requires a tiebreaker, the Sun would receive the extra combination because the Tempo won the head-to-head season series 2-1, despite both teams finishing 11-33 in 2026.
- The WNBA lottery now includes seven teams — up from five last year — with the Sun, Tempo, Chicago Sky, Seattle Storm, Phoenix Mercury, Los Angeles Sparks and Portland Fire all in the mix; odds remain based on the original pick owner, so the Mercury won't have a selection and the Sparks will have two.
- Seattle Storm set the league's single-season losses record at 8-36 (.182 winning percentage), the worst in franchise history, though their young core — Awa Fam (No. 3), Flau'jae Johnson (No. 8) and 2025 No. 2 pick Dominique Malonga — gives them only the fourth-best lottery odds due to their 23-21 record last season.
- Portland Fire finished with 17 wins, the second-most in an expansion season in WNBA history (behind the Valkyries' 23 last year), and will make their first-ever lottery selection to join a young core built around Carla Leite and Iyana Martín.
- JuJu Watkins is the clear favorite to go No. 1 overall after tearing her ACL last season; the 6-foot-2 USC wing is returning for a fifth year in 2027-28, assuming she declares, with Texas forward Madison Booker and Notre Dame guard Hannah Hidalgo also pegged as top picks.
- The Connecticut Sun are being sold to Tilman Fertitta and will relocate to Houston in 2027 to revive the Comets, making their final season in Uncasville — capped by a win over the Tempo — a symbolic bookend to the franchise's Connecticut era.
- Phoenix Mercury finished 16-28 and missed the playoffs a year after reaching the Finals, becoming the first team since 2008 (also the Mercury) to make that stumble; they also surrendered their 2027 first-round pick in the Kelsey Plum trade.
Why it matters: The Sun's move to Houston and the Tempo's inaugural lottery gamble mean two of the top picks will shape brand-new franchise identities, while the Storm and Sparks — loaded with young talent or freshly pivoting to rebuilds — are best positioned to leverage a top selection alongside existing cores. With JuJu Watkins potentially available but eligible to return to school for a fifth year, the No. 1 pick carries real uncertainty despite Watkins being the consensus favorite.
Ask SkimNews
