The 2010 WNBA draft is the league's annual process for determining which teams receive the rights to negotiate with players entering the league. The draft was held on April 8, 2010. The first round was shown on ESPN2 (HD), while the second and third rounds were shown on NBA TV and ESPNU.

A lottery was held on November 5, 2009. The Minnesota Lynx received the first overall selection of the draft. The Sacramento Monarchs received the number two selection. The Connecticut Sun came up with the third overall selection, followed by the Minnesota Lynx again at four, and the Chicago Sky at number five.

Since the Monarchs folded after the draft lottery took place, their pick was simply eliminated.

The lottery selection to determine the order of the top five picks in the 2010 Draft occurred on November 5, 2009, the Minnesota Lynx won the first pick, while the Sacramento Monarchs and Connecticut Sun were awarded the second and third 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 2010 draft lottery, rounded to three decimal places:

• January 30, 2009: The Washington Mystics receive the second-round pick from the Minnesota Lynx as part of the Lindsey Harding transaction.
• March 26, 2009: The Los Angeles Sparks receive the first-round pick from the Phoenix Mercury as part of the Temeka Johnson transaction.
• May 5, 2009: The Minnesota Lynx receive the first-round pick from the New York Liberty (via L.A.) as part of the Sidney Spencer/Noelle Quinn transaction.
• November 20, 2009: The league announces the folding of the Sacramento Monarchs. The Monarchs' picks in the draft were simply eliminated.
• January 12, 2010: The Connecticut Sun receive the first overall pick in exchange for the second overall pick from the Minnesota Lynx as part of the Lindsay Whalen/Renee Montgomery transaction.

Source^[1]

On November 20, 2009, the league announced that the Sacramento Monarchs would no longer operate. A dispersal draft was held on December 14, 2009, with teams being allowed to pick in the following order.

Pick	Player	Nationality	New team	Former team
1	Nicole Powell	United States	New York Liberty	Sacramento Monarchs
2	Rebekkah Brunson	United States	Minnesota Lynx	Sacramento Monarchs
3	DeMya Walker	United States	Connecticut Sun	Sacramento Monarchs
4	Courtney Paris	United States	Chicago Sky	Sacramento Monarchs
5	Laura Harper	United States	San Antonio Silver Stars	Sacramento Monarchs
6	Kristin Haynie	United States	Washington Mystics	Sacramento Monarchs
7	Scholanda Robinson	United States	Tulsa Shock	Sacramento Monarchs
8	Passed		Los Angeles Sparks	Sacramento Monarchs
9	Passed		Atlanta Dream	Sacramento Monarchs
10	Chelsea Newton	United States	Seattle Storm	Sacramento Monarchs
11	Passed		Indiana Fever	Sacramento Monarchs
12	Passed		Phoenix Mercury	Sacramento Monarchs
Note: Three former Monarchs players, Kara Lawson, Hamchetou Maiga-Ba, and Ticha Penicheiro were free agents and therefore not eligible for this draft.

Pick	Player	Nationality	Team	School / club team
1	Tina Charles +	United States	Connecticut Sun (from N.Y, via L.A., via Minn.)	Connecticut
2	Monica Wright	United States	Minnesota Lynx (from Conn.)	Virginia
3	Kelsey Griffin	United States	Minnesota Lynx (traded to Conn.)	Nebraska
4	Epiphanny Prince +	United States	Chicago Sky	Rutgers/Turkey
5	Jayne Appel +	United States	San Antonio Silver Stars	Stanford
6	Jacinta Monroe	United States	Washington Mystics	Florida State
7	Danielle McCray	United States	Connecticut Sun (from Tul.)	Kansas
8	Andrea Riley	United States	Los Angeles Sparks	Oklahoma State
9	Chanel Mokango	DR Congo	Atlanta Dream	Mississippi State
10	Alison Lacey	Australia	Seattle Storm	Iowa State
11	Jené Morris	United States	Indiana Fever	San Diego State
12	Bianca Thomas	United States	Los Angeles Sparks (from Phx.)	Ole Miss

Pick	Player	Nationality	Team	School / club team
13	Kalana Greene	United States	New York Liberty	Connecticut
14	Jenna Smith	United States	Washington Mystics (from Minn.)	Illinois
15	Allison Hightower +	United States	Connecticut Sun	LSU
16	Ashley Houts	United States	New York Liberty (from Chi.)	Georgia
17	Alysha Clark	Israel	San Antonio Silver Stars	Middle Tennessee
18	Shanavia Dowdell	United States	Washington Mystics	Louisiana Tech
19	Amanda Thompson	United States	Tulsa Shock	Oklahoma
20	Angel Robinson	United States	Los Angeles Sparks	Georgia
21	Brigitte Ardossi	Australia	Atlanta Dream	Georgia Tech
22	Tanisha Smith	United States	Seattle Storm	Texas A&M
23	Armelie Lumanu	DR Congo	Indiana Fever	Mississippi State
24	Tyra Grant	United States	Phoenix Mercury	Penn State

Pick	Player	Nationality	Team	School / club team
25	Cory Montgomery	United States	New York Liberty	Nebraska
26	Gabriela Marginean	Romania	Minnesota Lynx	Drexel
27	Johannah Leedham	Great Britain	Connecticut Sun	Franklin Pierce
28	Abi Olajuwon	United States	Chicago Sky	Oklahoma
29	Alexis Rack	United States	San Antonio Silver Stars	Mississippi State
30	Alexis Gray-Lawson	United States	Washington Mystics	California
31	Vivian Frieson	United States	Tulsa Shock	Gonzaga
32	Rashidat Junaid	United States	Los Angeles Sparks	Rutgers
33	Brittainey Raven	United States	Atlanta Dream	Texas
34	Tijana Krivačević	Serbia/ Hungary	Seattle Storm	MKB Euroleasing Sopron (Hungary)
35	Joy Cheek	United States	Indiana Fever	Duke
36	Nyeshia Stevenson	United States	Phoenix Mercury	Oklahoma

• List of first overall WNBA draft picks

• "All-Time WNBA draft history". WNBA. Archived from the original on October 12, 2008.

• 2010 WNBA Draft Board