The 2019 WNBA Draft is just days away. On Wednesday, players from around the globe will achieve the lifelong dream of being chosen to compete for roster spots in the WNBA. It’s a feeling everyone on the Lynx remembers well.

Seimone Augustus, Sylvia Fowles and Danielle Robinson were all taken in the first rounds of their respective drafts, but nevertheless there were a lot of nerves. Nothing is ever a sure thing until you walk across that stage.

The WNBA draft is even crazier because of the fact that the NCAA championship game is played just days before the draft and WNBA training camps start mere weeks following. It’s a whirlwind for players, who much pack up and move at a moment’s notice in order to compete in very tough WNBA training camps in order to earn a spot on a roster.

However, that doesn’t make the draft any less special.

“When I heard my name called it took a second a lot of stuff had to process like, ‘I’m the No. 1 pick!’” said Augustus. “I looked over at my dad because that’s the person that all my life I’ve been trying to prove, that’s the person that put the ball in my hand, he never let me settle for anything. I could have had a perfect game and he’s still like, ‘You could have run harder down the floor’… That day and that moment was like, ‘What do you got to say now Pops?’ That was probably his proudest day other than winning a gold medal for the U.S. National Team.”

Robinson, taken with the sixth pick by San Antonio, said that the best part of her draft night experience was getting to share it with her mom and her college coach, two of the most important women in her life.

“The crazy part was they would have the camera come out to the person who they thought was going to get drafted next, after Jantel [Lavender] got drafted fifth they came out to our table and I was like ‘Oh my god,’” she remembered.

Fowles remembers trying to fight through emotion when she was picked No. 2 overall.

“It was a lot of built up emotion because coming from Miami I never thought about playing in the WNBA. I thought I was talented enough to get through college, but WNBA wasn’t ever my next go-to step,” said Fowles. “Just to have to put that into the forefront, be at home in Florida and have my family there, my mom, my sister, my brothers, my aunties, my uncles, to have them see that, it made a big difference because a lot of us play sports, but I was the first to make it professionally.”

No matter who the Lynx pick in the draft, they will be welcomed to Minnesota with open arms. Augustus remembers her first days in Minnesota well—they were crazy but also filled with excitement.

“The next day was like the carwash. We went through all the media circus and everything and I just remember people like, ‘So, what do you know about Minnesota?’ and I was like, ‘Absolutely nothing,’” she said. “Everybody made sure they educated me on the state of Minnesota, the city of Minneapolis and the fans and everything so it was kind of awesome to just kind of learn as I went.”

For more draft coverage check out the Minnesota Lynx Draft Central page.