The draft was held on April 16, 2012, at the ESPN studios in Bristol, Connecticut.
The lottery selection to determine the order of the top four picks in the 2012 draft occurred on November 10, 2011.
The Los Angeles Sparks won the first pick, while the Chicago Sky, Minnesota Lynx and Tulsa Shock were awarded the second, third and fourth picks respectively.
The remaining first-round picks and all the second- and third-round picks were assigned to teams in reverse order of their win–loss records in the previous season.
Below were the chances for each team to get specific picks in the 2012 draft lottery, rounded to three decimal places: The WNBA announced on April 11, 2012, that 15 players had been invited to attend the draft.