Key Points
Bullet point summary by AI
- Toronto and Portland built distinct rosters in the WNBA expansion draft, each with unique strategic focuses for 2026.
- One team prioritized veteran talent to compete sooner, while the other focused on younger players for long-term growth.
- Neither roster matches last year's dominant Golden State Valkyries, who had distinct advantages during their expansion build.
Last Friday, the results of the WNBA expansion draft were announced, setting the initial rosters for the Toronto Tempo and Portland Fire. Both teams took distinct approaches to the draft, building teams that seem to have very different goals in mind. For one, it appears the goal is to at least attempt to be a winning basketball team. For the other, it's to put down roots for the future, and both did so without choosing any Chicago Sky players after a bizarre trade before the expansion draft.
Which team is which, and does either team's roster hold a candle to last season's Golden State Valkyries — the most successful expansion team in league history?
The Tempo are better built to win now
Note the use of the word "better" there. I don't actually think this Tempo roster is going to compete for a playoff spot, but it's certainly the roster that appears better positioned to win more games in 2026.
Player | Former Team |
|---|---|
Julie Allemand | Sparks |
Nyara Sabally | Liberty |
Marina Mabrey | Sun |
Aaliyah Nye | Aces |
Lexi Held | Mercury |
Maria Conde | Valkyries |
Maria Kliundikova | Lynx |
Adja Kane | Liberty |
Nikolina Milic | Sun |
Kitija Laksa | Mercury |
Kristy Wallace | Fever |
Mabrey, an unrestricted free agent, is the headliner here. The Tempo will now be the only team able to offer her the most possible money, and assuming she takes it, she'll be locked in as the No. 1 scoring weapon on this team.
Overall, there's some good talent here. An Allemand-Mabrey backcourt is a lot of fun, and Nyara Sabally getting a chance to shine as the starting center will really help people realize how good of a basketball player she is. Aaliyah Nye will be nice as a wing scoring threat, and the depth here features a number of intriguing international players.
This is the "better" roster if the focus is on winning games right now. Not that I think the Tempo will win a lot of games right away, but they're better positioned to do so with an experienced lead guard in Mabrey.
Portland has a better future foundation
While I prefer the Tempo roster if we're talking about winning basketball games in 2026, I think that the Fire have the roster with a more sustainable future, as the team focused more on getting younger players who could still yet reach their potential.
Player | Former Team |
|---|---|
Bridget Carleton | Lynx |
Carla Leite | Valkyries |
Luisa Geiselsöder | Wings |
Emily Engstler | Mystics |
Maya Caldwell | Dream |
Chloe Bibby | Fever |
Haley Jones | Wings |
Nyadiew Puoch | Dream |
Sarah Ashlee Barker | Sparks |
Sug Sutton | Mystics |
Nika Mühl | Storm |
No, there's no Mabrey-level scorer here, but the Fire have more long-term bets. Carla Leite in particular stands out as a great pick, as she flashed plenty of potential with the Valkyries last season. Nika Mühl is set to miss this season after surgery to repair her ACL, but getting her into the building could pay dividends. Players like Haley Jones and Sarah Ashlee Barker haven't worked out yet, but both had plenty of fans pre-draft, and Jones seemed to finally start putting some things together with the Wings last season.
Bridget Carleton as the top pick is interesting as well. She's a really talented shooter who has spent her career as a role player with the Lynx, but we don't really know if she has what it takes to be a team's top option. While I'd lean "no" as the answer for that, I think Portland grabbing her on the chance she can be was a smart move.
How many games can this roster win? No idea. The fire could easily win, like, seven games because nothing comes together. The roster could also work out and this team could approach .500, though it would take some major work in free agency to be a viable playoff contender.
Neither team compares to last year's Valkyries
The problem of doing a two-team expansion draft one year after doing a one-team expansion draft — and doing so in an offseason where most of the league's veterans are free agents — is that people will unfairly compare the rosters, even though the Golden State Valkyries were building their team in a much different environment.
Golden State was able to build a competitive roster because it didn't have to share roster-building with another team, and because with more players under contract last offseason than this one, it wasn't as limited by the free agency stuff. Getting players like Kayla Thornton, Stephanie Talbot and Veronica Burton last year put the team in a really good position in a way that the Tempo and Fire simply didn't have access to.
But hey, that's fine! I was concerned that the Valkyries tried too hard to win last season in a way that limited their future ability to build a sustainable roster, and the fact that much of their roster is hitting free agency, yet they only pick at No. 8 in this year's WNBA Draft, is going to make team-building tough moving forward. Portland and Toronto will probably be bad in 2026, which is what we expect from expansion teams, and it will give the teams a chance to draft a top college player in 2027.
Golden State's quest to be good might still put the team in purgatory, preventing it from getting top-flight young talent. Nothing against Gianna Kneepkens or Nell Angloma, but those are two of the most rumored names for the Valkyries in the 2026 WNBA Draft, and neither is likely a game-changer. So while Golden State had the better expansion draft of these teams, that doesn't mean it has the brightest future out of the league's newest franchises.