New York Liberty Earn Second Overall Pick In 2019 Draft

The New York Liberty has earned the second overall pick for the 2019 WNBA Draft as revealed on Tuesday night.

In the 2018 season, The New York Liberty finished fifth in the Eastern Conference and 11th in the league after concluding the season with a franchise low of a 7-27 record. With a 29-39 combined record of the Liberty’s most recent seasons, the team will draw its lottery pick ranging from the first overall to the fourth.

Head Coach Katie Smith shared her initial reaction: “This is an exciting day for us. You go in and we’re expecting fourth pick and ready to draft and go after it. You want to do your homework and add to the crew we already have. Then Chicago gets the fourth pick and then you get greedy! Now, why not continue to shake this up? I was definitely getting anxious getting ready to explode with moving up already that far.”

The Indiana Fever, Las Vegas Aces, Chicago Sky and New York Liberty qualified for the 18th annual Lottery drawing. The order of selection for the remainder of the first round as well as the second and third rounds is determined by inverse order of the teams’ respective regular-season records solely from 2018.

Smith also acknowledged what choosing a lottery pick had meant to she and the Liberty program overall. “Getting the second pick does simplify your homework a bit. This draft is pretty deep. Even if we would have gotten the fourth pick, we really were going to be happy with whoever we pick. We have to evaluate our team and figure out which player can best compliment us of the players that have the most interest in and scooping them up.”

Smith also expressed that the program is, “hoping to bring in a player ready right away.”