[1] The lottery selection to determine the order of the top four picks in the 2023 draft took place on November 11, 2022, and was televised on ESPN leading into ESPN's women's college basketball game that evening featuring defending National Champion South Carolina at Maryland.
[2] The four non-playoff teams in 2022 qualified from the lottery drawing: Indiana Fever, Atlanta Dream, Los Angeles Sparks, and the Minnesota Lynx.
The Sparks made a trade in February 2022 that allowed their pick to ultimately end up with the Washington Mystics at the time of the drawing.
Each team had a representative at the lottery drawing - Kelsey Mitchell for the Fever, Head Coach Tanisha Wright for the Dream, Natasha Cloud for the Mystics, and Napheesa Collier for the Lynx.
The Fever won the lottery for the first time in franchise history and were awarded the top pick in the draft.