1997 WNBA draft

The 1997 WNBA draft was the 1st draft held by the WNBA through which teams could select new players from a talent pool of college and WNBA players|professional women's basketball players]. Unlike later drafts, this draft was unique because there were three different stages in which teams built their rosters.
First on January 22, 1997, the Initial Player Allocation draft took place in which 16 players were assigned to each team in no particular order.
The elite draft portion comprised professional women's basketball players who had competed in other leagues, usually international leagues. On February 27, 1997, an WNBA [elite draft|elite draft] added two more players to each team. Michi Atkins is the only player selected in the elite draft that never played a game in the WNBA.
On April 28, 1997, the four rounds of the regular WNBA draft took place. Racquel Spurlock is the only player selected in the college draft that never played a game in the WNBA.
Draftees Cynthia Cooper, Sheryl Swoopes, and Tina Thompson would become the core pieces of the Houston Comets dynasty.

Initial player allocation

Count	Player	Position	Nationality	Team	School / club team
1	⁺ ^	C		Charlotte Sting	Maryland
2	*	G		Charlotte Sting	NC State
3	^	C		Cleveland Rockers	Louisiana Tech
4	^	G		Cleveland Rockers	Iowa
5	* ^ !	F		Houston Comets	Texas Tech
6	* ^ !	G		Houston Comets	USC
7	* ^ !	C		Los Angeles Sparks	USC
8		G		Los Angeles Sparks	Long Beach State
9	⁺ ^	C/F		New York Liberty	Connecticut
10	^* ^ !	G		New York Liberty	Louisiana Tech
11	⁺ ^ !	G		Phoenix Mercury	WTV Wuppertal
12	^* ^	C		Phoenix Mercury	Ole Miss
13	^* ^	G		Sacramento Monarchs	Auburn
14	^	F		Sacramento Monarchs	Tennessee
15	⁺	C/F		Utah Starzz	CSKA Moscow
16		G		Utah Starzz	Georgia

Note: 16 players assigned in no particular order.

Elite draft

The elite draft portion was composed of professional women's basketball players who had competed in other leagues, usually international leagues. It was the first time where the teams could draft the players out of a talent pool.

Notable undrafted players

These players were not selected in the 1997 WNBA draft but played at least one game for the WNBA.

Player	Position	Nationality	School / club team
	G		Ohio State
	G		Virginia
	F		Furman
	F		Alabama
	G/F		LSU
	F		USC
	G		Texas
*	G/F		Tourbillon Kinshasa
	F		Ole Miss
	PG		Southwestern Louisiana
	G		Tennessee