There are four new WNBA teams without names, logos or uniforms. But by next Thursday, they will have players. The expansion draft will be held Wednesday in an effort to stock teams in Indianapolis, Seattle, Miami and Portland.

DRAFT CARDS

The WNBA's four expansion teams -- Indiana, Miami, Portland and Seattle -- will acquire their first six players Wednesday in the 2000 Expansion Draft. The draft, which tips off at 10:30 a.m. ET via conference call with the league office, will consist of six rounds. The first-round draft order, as determined by a random drawing: Indiana Seattle Miami Portland The 2000 WNBA Draft will be April 25. Here's a look at the 2000 WNBA draft order (with 1999 record in parentheses): 1. Cleveland (7-25) 2. Washington (12-20) 3. Utah (15-17) 4. Orlando (15-17) 5. Phoenix (15-17) 6. Minnesota (15-17) 7. Portland 8. Miami 9. Seattle 10. Indiana 11. Charlotte (15-17) 12. Detroit (15-17) 13. New York (18-14) 14. Sacramento (19-13) 15. Los Angeles (20-12) 16. Houston (26-6)

The majority of the effort will be undertaken by the expansion teams themselves.

The league, in deference to its existing teams, has not given the teams much to work with. Each of the 12 existing WNBA teams will be allowed to protect five players -- down from six in last year's expansion draft. But once a player from a given team is taken, the franchise can protect three more, which means that each existing team will lose only one of its top nine players.

And the expansion teams will be left with the scraps, choosing from the 10th, 11th and 12th best players on everyone's rosters for the final three rounds. Indianapolis, for the record, has the first pick, followed by Seattle, Miami and Portland.

"At this point, it is what it is," Seattle general manager Karen Bryant said. "All the expansion steams, we lobbied as much as we could to make sure our teams are competitive. We tried to consider how the existing teams feel. Now we have to focus our energy on deal with the hand we've been given."

The double whammy is that there will be no allocated players for the new teams as there have been for all of the past expansion teams, a concession by the league that there aren't four players of equal ability out there to allocate.

The WNBA has tried to compensate for expansion teams for their obvious competitive disadvantages by relaxing its trade rules to allow trading for draft picks as well as unbalanced trades in which one team can give up two players for one and the like.

"(Seattle coach) Lin Dunn has been on the phone for the past couple of weeks. The new trade rules open things up a lot," Bryant said. "Three weeks ago, we didn't even have that."

In addition to the six players that the teams will acquire in the expansion draft, the teams will be filled out by the 2000 WNBA draft in April. But the college class of 2000 isn't going to be strong and there are probably between 15-20 former American Basketball League players out there waiting gainful employment. The trouble is, those who will truly make an impact are already employed in the league.

There are bound to be several long, lean years in the WNBA's four newest cities.

Dunn said this is the biggest challenge of her long coaching career.

"What do you do? How do you build a team? I have talked to a lot of people," Dunn said. "When I did this in college, I had players. This is going to be a tremendous challenge."

Dunn said it's all in the planning.

"Are you going to go young? Are you going to have a mix of young and old? Are you going to go with foreign players? And then, what is your style?" she said. "These two things meld together to build this team."

There are good players out there who will be available as some teams end up with tough choices. Here are some of the possibilities:

New York: Carolyn Jones-Young. The ABL's all-time leading scorer did not play last year because she was pregnant.

Phoenix: The Arizona Republic reported that the Mercury will leave point guard Michele Timms unprotected. Edna Campbell is also a possibility.

Utah: Debbie Black, because the Starzz have Korie Hlede.

Sacramento: Kate Starbird will almost certainly be on that unprotected list, as might LaTasha Byears, the team's leading scorer two years ago.

Houston: Even though Janeth Arcain is the Comets' sixth player, it's hard to believe the Comets wouldn't protect her, so how about Sonja Henning, who is a veteran but doesn't do a lot of scoring.

Detroit: It's almost a definite that a strong Australian player (i.e. Sandy Brondello, Rachael Sporn) will be on the list because there's a good chance they won't play here next season anyway because of their Olympic obligations.

Los Angeles: This will be interesting. Tameka Dixon, Ukari Figgs and Allison Feaster would all seem vulnerable.

Washington: Val Still, who will be nearing 39 by the time the 2000 season stars.

Orlando: Elaine Powell, who played point guard for Dunn with the Portland Power, Tari Phillips.

Cleveland: Chasity Melvin, Alissa Burras and Jamila Wideman. If Isabelle Fijalkowski comes back, the Rockers will have expendable post play.

Charlotte: Stephanie McCarty, Niesa Johnson.

Minnesota: Sonja Tate and Andrea Lloyd-Curry, because the Lynx are likely to protect their new acquisitions.

Around the WNBA
New Cleveland head coach Dan Hughes has vowed that he will go to Italy to try and talk former Rockers star Isabelle Fijalkowski into returning to the team next season. Fijalkowski chose not to come to Cleveland last season and the Rockers struggled mightily, finishing last in the Eastern Conference with the league's worst record.

Michelle Smith of the San Francisco Examiner is a regular contributor to ESPN.com.