For the seven teams that did not make the playoffs and the Houston Comets, who’ll return to the WNBA after 24 years, attention has shifted to the 2027 WNBA Draft lottery odds. With JuJu Watkins returning for her final NCAAW season after a leg injury sidelined her for well over a year, all eyes are on which team has the best chance of scooping up the incoming USC Trojans star.

ESPN’s Kareem Copeland revealed that the Toronto Tempo has now tied the odds with the Houston Comets as the frontrunner. The returning team and 2026 expansion franchise have equal odds of 329/1000 to land the No. 1 Draft pick.

The other teams are well behind these two. The Washington Mystics, who acquired the pick from Chicago in the Ariel Atkins trade, are at 161/1000, followed by Seattle [93/1000], Portland [52/1000], and Los Angeles [24/1000]. The Sparks have one other pick, with 12/1000 odds, courtesy of the Kelsey Plum trade.

The 2027 WNBA draft lottery will be broadcast on ESPN on Sunday, Nov. 15, from 7:30-8 p.m. ET. The actual 2027 WNBA draft will take place on Monday, April 12, 2027.

There’s a good reason why this year’s draft lottery carries franchise-defining weight. The Trojans star guard is a dynamic force capable of slicing through the lane, absorbing heavy contact in transition, and hitting daggers from beyond the arc. Add in her suffocating perimeter defense and her elite court vision, and opposing defenses struggle to cope with her.

The race for the top of the WNBA draft picks comes with an intricate set of rules. For established franchises that missed the postseason, lottery odds are heavily weighted by two years of struggles, combining their 2025 and 2026 records. Meanwhile, expansion teams Portland and Toronto are operating on a smaller sample size, with their lottery fate tied exclusively to their 2026 runs.

The draft order is already getting intertwined: Phoenix previously shipped its first-round pick to Los Angeles, and Chicago dealt its own to Washington. But regardless of who holds the winning ping-pong balls, the ultimate target remains the same: JuJu Watkins. The generational talent is widely projected as the No. 1 overall pick before her 2026-27 college season has even begun.

The 6’2 guard averaged 23.9 points, 6.8 rebounds, and 3.4 assists per game while shooting 42.6% from the field in her sophomore year, finishing as the AP Player of the Year. A devastating ACL injury kept her out for 580 days, leading her to miss the entirety of the 2025-26 college basketball season. Watkins finally returned to action last week against California in a preseason exhibition game.

Watkins made an immediate impact and demonstrated her two-way versatility, recording 18 points (6-of-14 FG, 6-of-6 FT), three rebounds, two assists, three steals, and two blocks.

While it’s good to see Watkins pick up where she left off, she credits her recovery to her family.

JuJu Watkins’ family aided in her road to recovery

At first, it was hard for Watkins and her family to comprehend the severe injury she faced. After all, an ACL injury means a significant time off the court and a long, arduous road to recovery. However, with time, through their constant support and encouragement, Watkins found her way back.

“To see my family be there for me was really big,” Watkins said, per Good Morning America.

“It was an adjustment. I couldn’t walk. I was in a wheelchair. Couldn’t really take care of myself… It motivates me every day to get up and get after it because there are people who are watching and supporting.”

Watkins’ mother insisted that it wasn’t just her and Watkins’ father, but their entire family that got behind Watkins in her recovery journey.

“It warms my heart to just see how hard she worked to get back where she was when she first got injured. It was shocking for the whole family. We rallied up, not just Bobby [Watkins father] and I, but her siblings, her aunties, and her grandmother.”

And for Watkins’ mother, there was another positive that came out of this process: Spending precious time with her daughter.

“And I actually moved in with her for 3 months, which was really cool. She’s in college, and I went there, stayed with her, and we had some good times,” she added.

For Watkins’ father, getting her daughter fit and healthy was a full-time job.

“It was just every day waking up supporting Juju,” Watkins’s father said.

Now that she is fit and firing, fans can catch JuJu Watkins back in action as USC opens its season on Nov. 2 against the UNLV Lady Rebels.