| Sport | Basketball |
|---|---|
| Date | April 24, 2003 |
| League | WNBA |
| Merging teams | Miami Sol Portland Fire (both teams folded in 2002) |
| First | LaToya Thomas Cleveland Rockers |
| Prev | 2002 |
| Next | 2004 |
The 2003 WNBA draft, both the dispersal draft and the annual WNBA draft, took place on April 24, 2003.
The dispersal draft involved players from the rosters of the Portland Fire and Miami Sol teams which had both folded after the 2002 season. For that reason, Miami's picks obtained in trades were lost.[1] Former Sol and Fire players not selected in the dispersal draft became unrestricted free agents.[2] The order of selection was determined by teams' 2002 regular season records, going from worst to first.[2]
Along with the folding of the Fire and the Sol, two teams moved to new cities. The Utah Starzz moved from Salt Lake City, Utah, to San Antonio, Texas, changing their name to the San Antonio Silver Stars, and the Orlando Miracle moved from Orlando, Florida, to Uncasville, Connecticut, to become the Connecticut Sun. The Sun became the first franchise not to be based in a city that also was home to an NBA franchise.
The draft itself also changed. Instead of the previous four-round format, the 2003 draft shrank to its current format of only three rounds.
Draft
Round 1
| Pick | Player | Position | Nationality | Team | School / club team |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | LaToya Thomas | F | Cleveland Rockers | Mississippi State | |
| 2 | Chantelle Anderson | C | Sacramento Monarchs | Vanderbilt | |
| 3 | Cheryl Ford * | C | Detroit Shock | Louisiana Tech | |
| 4 | Plenette Pierson + | F | Phoenix Mercury | Texas Tech | |
| 5 | Kara Lawson + | G | Detroit Shock (from Connecticut, traded to Sacramento) | Tennessee | |
| 6 | Gwen Jackson | F | Indiana Fever | Tennessee | |
| 7 | Aiysha Smith | C | Washington Mystics | LSU | |
| 8 | Jung Sun-min | C | Seattle Storm | Gwangju Sinsegye Coolcats (South Korea) | |
| 9 | Jocelyn Penn | F | Charlotte Sting | South Carolina | |
| 10 | Molly Creamer # | G | New York Liberty | Bucknell | |
| 11 | Coretta Brown | G | San Antonio Silver Stars | North Carolina | |
| 12 | Allison Curtin # | G | Houston Comets (traded to Detroit) | Tulsa |
Round 2
| Pick | Player | Position | Nationality | Team | School / club team |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13 | Courtney Coleman | F | Connecticut Sun (from Detroit) | Ohio State | |
| 14 | Teresa Edwards ^ ! | G | Minnesota Lynx | Georgia | |
| 15 | Jennifer Butler # | C | Cleveland Rockers | Massachusetts | |
| 16 | Petra Ujhelyi | F/C | Phoenix Mercury (traded to Detroit) | South Carolina | |
| 17 | Erin Thorn | G | New York Liberty (from Sacramento) | BYU | |
| 18 | Jordan Adams | C | Minnesota Lynx (from Miami) | New Mexico | |
| 19 | Lori Nero # | F/C | Houston Comets (from Connecticut) | Louisville | |
| 20 | DeTrina White | F | Indiana Fever | LSU | |
| 21 | Zuzana Žirková | G | Washington Mystics | Gambrinus Sika Brno (Czech Republic) | |
| 22 | Suzy Batkovic | C | Seattle Storm | Valenciennes (France) | |
| 23 | Dana Cherry # | G | Charlotte Sting | Arkansas | |
| 24 | Sonja Mallory | C | New York Liberty | Georgia Tech | |
| 25 | Ke-Ke Tardy # | F | San Antonio Silver Stars | LSU | |
| 26 | K. B. Sharp | G | New York Liberty (from Houston) | Cincinnati | |
| 27 | Schuye LaRue # | F | Los Angeles Sparks | Virginia |
Round 3
| Pick | Player | Position | Nationality | Team | School / club team |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 28 | Syreeta Bromfield # | F | Detroit Shock | Michigan State | |
| 29 | Carla Bennett # | C | Minnesota Lynx | Drake | |
| 30 | Shaquala Williams | G | Cleveland Rockers | Oregon | |
| 31 | Telisha Quarles # | G | Phoenix Mercury (traded to Detroit) | Virginia | |
| 32 | Trish Juhline # | G | Washington Mystics (from Sacramento) | Villanova | |
| 33 | Marion Jones | G | Phoenix Mercury (from Miami) | North Carolina | |
| 34 | Lindsey Wilson # | G | Connecticut Sun | Iowa State | |
| 35 | Ashley McElhiney # | G | Indiana Fever | Vanderbilt | |
| 36 | Tamara Bowie # | F | Washington Mystics | Ball State | |
| 37 | Chrissy Floyd # | G | Seattle Storm | Clemson | |
| 38 | Constance Jinks # | G | Houston Comets (from Charlotte) | UNLV | |
| 39 | Nicole Kaczmarski # | G | New York Liberty | UCLA | |
| 40 | Brooke Armistead # | G | San Antonio Silver Stars | Austin Peay | |
| 41 | Oxana Rakhmatulina # | G | Houston Comets | CSKA Samara (Russia) | |
| 42 | Mary Jo Noon # | C | Los Angeles Sparks | Purdue |
See also
References
- ^ "PLUS: W.N.B.A.; Dispersal Draft Scatters 2 Rosters". The New York Times. April 25, 2003. Retrieved May 21, 2025.
- ^ "Detroit adds Riley with top pick". ESPN. April 25, 2003. Retrieved May 23, 2025.
- "All-Time WNBA Draft List". WNBA. Archived from the original on May 9, 2008. Retrieved June 4, 2008.