Nine Days to the Lottery: Houston and Toronto Lead the Race for JuJu Watkins

LAS VEGAS

There were no WNBA games on Friday's schedule, and there will not be another one for months. The season ended on October 31, when the Golden State Valkyries beat the Atlanta Dream 68-63 in the first Game 7 in Finals history. But the league's offseason is already moving: the 2027 Draft Lottery is nine days away, Caitlin Clark just signed a retail deal no athlete has ever signed, Stephen Curry weighed in on the champions he shares an arena with, and Angel Reese announced she is taking this winter for herself. Here is where the WNBA stands on November 6.

Nine days to the lottery, and two teams own two-thirds of it

The WNBA Draft Lottery 2027 will be broadcast on Sunday, November 15 on ESPN from 7:30 to 8:00 p.m. ET, following the UConn vs. Louisville game, the league announced on October 28. Six teams take part in the 26th annual lottery: the Houston Comets, Los Angeles Sparks, Portland Fire, Seattle Storm, Toronto Tempo and Washington Mystics. Houston is the relocated Connecticut Sun, back under the Comets name the franchise's original city made famous.

The top of the board is a dead heat. According to WNBA.com, Houston and Toronto each hold 329 of the 1,000 combinations — a 32.9 percent chance at the No. 1 pick, and 65.8 percent between the two of them. Houston's chances are built on a 22-66 cumulative record across 2025 and 2026 as the Sun; Toronto's come from an 11-33 debut season, because expansion teams are graded on their 2026 record alone. The identical .250 winning percentages triggered the head-to-head tiebreaker: Houston went 1-2 against Toronto in 2026, so the Comets cannot fall further than the third pick, while Toronto is guaranteed at least the fourth.

Behind them, according to WNBA.com: Washington holds 161 combinations (16.1 percent) with the first-round pick it acquired from Chicago in the trade that sent Ariel Atkins to the Sky; Seattle holds 93 (9.3 percent) off a 31-57 two-year record; Portland holds 52 (5.2 percent); and Los Angeles holds two separate chances — 24 off its own 37-51 record and 12 more from the Phoenix pick that arrived in the August trade for Kelsey Plum. Four balls drawn from 14 decide the first pick, the draw repeats for the second, and the remaining teams slot in by record. WNBA Head of League Operations Bethany Donaphin will reveal the results, with Ernst & Young overseeing the drawing. The 2027 Draft itself is set for Monday, April 12, 2027.

The prize already proved she is back

Every one of those combinations is really a ticket in the JuJu Watkins sweepstakes. The 6-foot-2 USC wing is the clear favorite to go No. 1 if she declares, according to Fadeaway World — and the one complication, her surgically repaired right knee, just had its best week in almost two years. Watkins tore her ACL in the second round of the 2025 NCAA Tournament and missed the entire 2025-26 season. On Monday, November 2, in her first game in 588 days, she scored 21 points with five rebounds, two assists, two steals and a block in 25 minutes as No. 3 USC routed UNLV 100-68 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, according to USA Today. Her sophomore line before the injury — 23.9 points, 6.8 rebounds and 3.4 assists a game on 42.6 percent shooting, and AP Player of the Year honors, per Essentially Sports — is why front offices are doing lottery math in November.

"It was great to be out here and to see the first one fell through, it really helped," Watkins told CBS Sports courtside after the game, per Heavy. "I'm just grateful to be out here today." One honest caveat rides with the pick: because Watkins took a medical redshirt, she can also stay at USC for a fifth year in 2027-28. The lottery winner is guaranteed the top of the board — Madison Booker of Texas, Hannah Hidalgo of Notre Dame and LSU's Mikaylah Williams and MiLaysia Fulwiley headline the class behind her — not a signed commitment from Watkins herself.

Clark signs the deal nobody else has

The last two No. 1 picks changed franchises. Clark, the 2024 top pick, keeps changing the league's business. Her multiyear partnership with DICK'S Sporting Goods and Foot Locker was announced on November 4, and according to The Blast she is the first individual athlete ever signed as a brand partner by either retailer. The exclusive deal puts Clark in national and international campaigns, promotes her signature footwear and apparel, and includes in-store experiences and community events; DICK'S now owns Foot Locker, so one signing covers both chains. Financial terms were not disclosed.

"DICK'S Sporting Goods was always a stop before the start of any sports season when I was growing up," Clark said in the companies' announcement. "Being the first ever brand partner for both them and Foot Locker is a really special full-circle moment." The deal layers on top of a portfolio that already includes Nike, Gatorade, State Farm and Wilson, and it gives her Nike Caitlin 1 line — launched in October — two more national storefronts to sell through.

Curry co-signs the champions

The Bay Area is still talking about the Valkyries, and so is Stephen Curry. In an interview with NBA TV reported Friday by Roundtable Sports, the Warriors guard traced the arc from his first Valkyries game during the franchise's 2025 debut season to a championship in year two. "An incredible journey from last year when I went to my first game, understanding the identity of the fan base and the in-game experience," Curry said. "And then fast forward a year and they're competing and winning a WNBA championship."

Curry, who sat courtside for Game 2 with his daughter Ryan but could not attend Game 7, pointed to the expansion-draft castoffs who became champions — Veronica Burton, Kate Martin, Iliana Rupert and Cecilia Zandalasini were all taken unprotected in December 2024 and all remained on the 2026 roster — and to Finals MVP Gabby Williams, signed in April after four years in Seattle. "And the fact that they got it done in two short years, and the community that they've built, they're going to be around for a long time," Curry said. Williams, who scored 28 of her 30 Game 7 points after halftime — a postseason record for a half — also finished second to Angel Reese in Defensive Player of the Year voting, per Roundtable Sports.

Reese takes the winter for herself

Reese came within a game of the title with Atlanta, averaging 16.1 points and 11.0 rebounds across 12 playoff games, per Yardbarker. This week, according to Sportskeeda, she announced she is stepping back from the public eye this offseason to dedicate it to herself — a pointed change of pace for one of the league's most visible players, and a reminder that the Finals ended less than a week ago. The offseason calendar will not wait for anybody: nine days from now, six front offices find out who picks first in April, and the league's next era gets its order.