We’ve known the 2020 WNBA Draft will be unprecedented for over three weeks now.

On March 26, the league announced it would keep its original draft date of Friday, April 17 but that’s about all that would remain unchanged for the draft night setting. The league will hold its first virtual draft without players, guests or media members in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.

We’ve since wondered how the changes will affect the way coaches and general managers carry out their draft-day routines. We’ve also questioned how prospects will be able to cherish the moment the same way prospects of years past were able to when they stepped on stage and held the jersey of their future team in front of an audience filled with their loved ones.

Keep in mind the players of this draft class already missed the chance to live out their dreams and make a name for themselves in their final March Madness run. Those moments can never be replaced, but those involved in Friday’s draft will do all they can to.

“Even though none of these players, especially the seniors, got the chance to fulfill their collegiate careers, there are still dreams coming true for so many of these players on Friday,” ESPN’s Rebecca Lobo said in Monday’s pre-draft conference call. “We get a chance to experience that and be a part of that. It’s one of the reasons it’s one of my absolute favorite events to cover.”

Yet, there are more less-talked-about challenges that will result from no NCAA Tournament and a crazy free agency in which teams packed their rosters, leaving little room for draft prospects who may have gotten a shot in the league in years past.

I think it’s safe to say Sabrina Ionescu will undoubtedly be the No. 1 pick of Friday’s draft. I think it’s relatively safe to say Lauren Cox and Satou Sabally will make up the second and third picks in either order, but the rest of the draft is made up of uncertainty.

Three more weeks of postseason basketball would have helped limit some of that unpredictability.

“Usually this time of year when we’re talking to pro coaches or GMs, there are one or two players who they talk about,” Lobo said. “Their draft stock skyrockets.

“Because we didn’t have a tournament, we didn’t have a chance to see those players or have those experiences.”

Lobo’s fellow ESPN analyst Holly Rowe believes Princeton’s Bella Alarie may have been one such player who “skyrocketed” in the tournament and proven her draftability. Instead, she enters the draft without that chance and with some spectators wondering if her career playing in the Ivy League properly prepared her for the pros.

Our Kyle Ratke profiled the Princeton forward in March, and Rowe believes she could be a prospect who’s chosen higher than some — or most — would anticipate.

Lobo also mentioned the impact lack of overseas play could have on this draft class. Most international players who began each season playing overseas will presumably be back with their WNBA teams once their delayed training camps start.

“This is going to be a very unique year in that in the past a player who may be undrafted would still be able to go to a training camp because players were coming back from their overseas commitments,” Lobo said. “A player would get an opportunity to be in the gym for camp for a couple of days or maybe a week before one of the veterans returned and took that training camp spot. That’s not the case this year.”

That only adds to the roster constraint free agency brought.

“Just go ahead and look at rosters before the draft starts,” Lynx head coach and general manager Cheryl Reeve said on the call. “There’s not a lot of openings.”

Fewer scouting opportunities and the virtual format will present challenges for teams looking to select the perfect fit for their team, but for the most part, the Lynx will be carrying out business as usual.

“I think that our focus every year is, regardless of what position we’re drafting, is to find the best player available,” Reeve said. “It’s utopia when the best player available also fills a need.”

That strategy of course worked out for the Lynx in 2019 when they drafted the soon-to-be Rookie of the Year in Napheesa Collier. But did the Lynx know they could snag a ROY candidate midway through the first round of the draft?

“I didn’t necessarily know going into the draft that we felt like we would be getting a player who would be a starter and be a candidate for Rookie of the Year,” Reeve said. “I think going into the draft I was just concerned about giving prospects minutes that would allow them to prove what their talent was.

“That’s probably the same position we sit in today as we feel like most of our teams, if you don’t have the No. 1, No. 2, No. 3 pick, the players you’re getting are probably going to be role players.”

Reeve believes most teams selecting in the middle of the first round are hopeful they’ll be able to find solid prospects who’ll be in the league for a long time.

“What level they reach is a harder projection,” Reeve said.

As for the players whose chances of making a training camp roster have been narrowed by canceled tournaments, paused international play and a league-altering offseason, Reeve believes strong character will bolster their chances of getting some run with a WNBA team.

“What you’d like a player to have if they are a borderline player is the traits that show who they are as an individual: their work ethic, their passion for the game, that sort of thing,” Reeve said. “That would be our preference.”

The 2020 WNBA Draft will be aired on ESPN at 6 p.m. CT on Friday, April 17.