WNBA free agency is in full swing, as teams across the league scramble to sign big-name players before preseason training tips off this Sunday.
Expansion side Toronto Tempo is filling in the gaps, picking up former Golden State center Temi Fagbenle on a reported $1 million, one-year deal, while also signing Canadian guard Kia Nurse.
“To have the opportunity to play at home, for Canada’s team, means everything to me,” Nurse said in a team statement.
“This country has supported me throughout my career, and being part of the Tempo as the WNBA comes to Canada is incredibly meaningful. I’m proud to represent Canada, will be proud to wear this jersey, and excited to help build something special here.”
Dallas is making a similar push, signing veteran guards Alysha Clark and guard Odyssey Sims after pairing No. 1 draft pick Azzi Fudd with UConn teammate — and 2025 Rookie of the Year — Paige Bueckers.
WNBA Teams Scout Undrafted Rookies Amid Free Agency Chaos
Undrafted rookies are also making a splash, as teams size up undervalued talent with an eye toward identifying development players.
Oklahoma center Raegan Beers will join Connecticut in training camp, while Richmond forward Maggie Doogan and Indiana guard Shay Ciezki get a shot with Phoenix.
Standing 6-foot-4, Colorado-born Beers began her college career with Oregon State before transferring to Oklahoma, finishing her NCAA run averaging 16.1 points and 9.7 rebounds per game across 129 appearances. Doogan led mid-major Richmond with 21.1 points and 7.9 rebounds per game through the 2025/26 season, while shooting 50.6% from the field, 40.4% from 3-point range, and 89% from the free throw line.
Ciezki capped her senior year averaging 22.8 points, 3.8 rebounds, and 3.1 assists per game. She additionally shot 52.6% from the field, 44.6% behind the arc, and 90.8% from the free throw line — one of just two players joining the 50-40-90 club last season, alongside Nebraska's Britt Prince.
The WNBA is looking abroad, with Commissioner Cathy Engelbert announcing the league’s interest in staging international WNBA games as women’s basketball booms worldwide.
“We’re heavily looking at that,” Engelbert said of moving either preseason or regular-season matchups overseas. “Next year we expect that we’ll do something outside of North America as a true global game.”
The WNBA has set preseason games outside the US, but hasn’t leaned into the practice as aggressively as other leagues like the NFL and NBA.
Detroit and San Antonio met for a 2004 preseason matchup in Monterrey, Mexico, before Atlanta took on Team GB in Manchester, England in 2011. Later, Minnesota and Chicago first tested the Canadian waters with a 2023 preseason game.
In 2025, Atlanta Dream and Seattle Storm played the WNBA's first regular-season international game in Vancouver, setting the stage for 2026 expansion team Toronto’s debut.
"It was an incredible crowd tonight," then-Seattle guard Skylar Diggins said after the Storm's 80-78 victory up North.
"First time in Vancouver, they showed a lot of love. We just love coming out here, playing in front of this electric [crowd]. I know it was a Dream home game, but it felt like a Storm home game. We really leaned on them tonight to help us lock in that victory."
The Toronto Tempo selected Julie Allemand with their first pick in Friday's 2026 WNBA expansion draft, choosing the LA Sparks and Belgium guard second overall to launch the franchise's inaugural roster.
In her only season with LA, 29-year-old Allemand averaged 5.4 points, 5.0 assists, and 3.7 rebounds across 34 games.
"Julie brought a versatile skill set to the Sparks, highlighted by her elite court vision and selfless play," Sparks GM Raegan Pebley said in a statement. "Toronto is gaining a talented player and an exceptional teammate."
Portland Fire drafted Canadian forward Bridget Carleton from the Minnesota Lynx with the first overall selection. Portland earned the top pick, after Toronto won a coin toss and opted for the sixth overall selection in the April 13th WNBA entry draft.
"Today is an important step in building the foundation of the Toronto Tempo," GM Monica Wright Rogers said in a team statement.
"Our goal was to construct a roster that reflects the style of play and culture we want to establish — one that balances competitiveness with long-term flexibility, and features players who bring versatility, toughness and winning experience."
Julie Allemand Headlines International Toronto Tempo Roster
Toronto's additional first-round WNBA expansion draft selections include Nyara Sabally (New York), Marina Mabrey (Connecticut), Aaliyah Nye (Las Vegas), Lexi Held (Phoenix), and Maria Conde (Golden State).
The second round subsequently brought María Conde (Golden State), Maria Kliundikova (Minnesota), Adja Kane (New York), Nikolina Milic (Connecticut), Kitija Laksa (Phoenix), and Kristy Wallace (Indiana) to Canada's first-ever WNBA team.
The roster features two WNBA champions in Sabally and Nye, with Tempo players representing eight countries including the US, Spain, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Australia, Belgium, Germany, Russia, France, and Latvia.
Earlier this week, Toronto acquired the 26th pick in the college draft from Chicago in exchange for the Sky's expansion draft immunity.
The Tempo is set to tip off its debut WNBA season on May 8th.
The WNBA expansion draft is here, as the Portland Fire and Toronto Tempo begin building out their inaugural rosters ahead of their 2026 franchise debuts.
The Fire won the coin toss and will pick first in Friday's two-round draft. Each expansion team can make up to six selections from a designated pool of unprotected current players sourced from the WNBA's existing franchises.
Only Chicago's roster remains off limits. The Sky secured immunity after trading away its 2026 second-round college picks in exchange for protection from the expansion draft.
How the 2026 WNBA Expansion Draft Works
The WNBA expansion draft follows strict parameters designed to protect existing teams while giving the new franchises a competitive edge. Each of the league's 13 teams submitted roster lists covering every player they hold rights to, including active, suspended, draft list/reserved, cored and retired athletes.
Teams can then protect up to five players from those lists, as long as they remain under active contracts, hold reserved rights, or enter restricted or core-able free agency. All other players are subsequently available for expansion team selection.
Once Portland or Toronto selects an unprotected player in the first round, neither expansion franchise can draft another player from that team until the second round. This rule prevents any one team from immediately losing multiple players.
No existing team can lose more than two unprotected players total, with each expansion team allowed to draft only one unrestricted free agent throughout the process.
The expansion draft represents just the first roster construction step for both incoming franchises. After today, the Fire and Tempo will participate in free agency before the 2026 WNBA Draft kicks off on April 13th.
How to Watch Portland and Toronto in the WNBA Expansion Draft
The Portland Fire and Toronto Tempo will tip off the 2026 expansion draft Friday at 3:30 PM ET, with live coverage on ESPN.
Just over a month before tipoff, the Toronto Tempo announced that former Raptors president Masai Ujiri has joined the 2026 WNBA expansion team's ownership group as a principal owner.
Ujiri led Toronto's NBA franchise to its only championship in 2019 before departing last summer to focus on his basketball nonprofit, Giants of Africa.
"I believe deeply in the vision behind the Tempo: creating female leaders, elevating women not just on the court, but across the organization, and building championship culture from day one," Ujiri said in a team statement.
As part of his duties with Toronto Tempo, Ujiri will spearhead Tempo Rising, a global coaching mentorship program designed to support emerging women-identifying and non-binary coaches. The initiative aims to shape the future of basketball by developing coaching talent in communities worldwide.
The announcement comes as the 2026 expansion franchise prepares for its inaugural season. Toronto joins the league alongside the Portland Fire as the WNBA's 15th team.
Ujiri joins an ownership group that already includes other notable figures from the sports and entertainment world. YouTube creator and actress Lilly Singh became a minority owner in May 2025, before Quebec sports icons Geoff Molson and France Margaret Bélanger invested last September.
The franchise hired Monica Wright Rogers as general manager in February 2025. In January 2026, the team subsequently added Ciara Carl and Brian Lankton as assistant coaches.
The Tempo tips off its debut WNBA season this May inside Toronto's Scotiabank Arena.
WNBA expansion draft details have arrived, as incoming franchises Toronto Tempo and Portland Fire prepare to build their debut rosters now that the WNBA CBA is all but official.
Though previously reported to occur on April 6th, the WNBA clarified on Wednesday that the two-team expansion draft will occur on Friday, April 3rd, shortly before the league's star-studded free agency period begins in earnest.
Kicking off the process will be a coin toss between the incoming franchises this Friday, with the winner able to either earn the top expansion draft pick or secure the No. 6 overall pick in the April 13th college draft.
The league's 13 veteran teams can protect up to five players each, with full roster lists — including all potential unrestricted free agents — as well as "Protected Player" designations due to the WNBA office by Sunday.
Similar to last offseason's Golden State Valkyries expansion draft, the protected player lists will likely not be made public.
Both Portland and Toronto can select only one unrestricted free agent from this year's notably deep pool in the expansion draft.
Meanwhile, existing teams can protect any free agent eligible for a "core" designation.
Once the 2025 WNBA teams submit their protection lists, Toronto and Portland can also negotiate and enter pre-expansion draft trade agreements, either to specifically select or not select a particular player, or to select an unprotected player in order to immediately trade her to another team.
The Portland Fire and Toronto Tempo will begin stocking their rosters in the 2026 WNBA expansion draft on Friday, April 3rd.
The draft will air live at 3:30 PM ET on ESPN.
The 2026 WNBA schedule has arrived, as the league released key dates on Wednesday despite ongoing CBA talks that threaten to delay the start of the upcoming season.
Opening day will be Friday, May 8th, when the WNBA tips off with a tripleheader featuring incoming expansion side Toronto Tempo against the Washington Mystics, the New York Liberty hosting the Connecticut Sun, and the Golden State Valkyries visiting the Seattle Storm.
Fellow 2026 addition Portland Fire will debut on Saturday, May 9th, hosting the Chicago Sky to close out another tripleheader that includes a 2025 WNBA Finals rematch between the reigning champion Las Vegas Aces and the Phoenix Mercury, as well as a Rookie of the Year showdown between the Paige Bueckers-led Dallas Wings and Caitlin Clark's Indiana Fever.
Other 2026 season highlights include the return of the annual WNBA Commissioner's Cup in June and the Chicago Sky-hosted All-Star Weekend in late July, with the league set to pause for a two-week break in early September to allow its stars to compete in the FIBA World Cup.
After the regular-season closes on Thursday, September 24th, the 2026 WNBA Playoffs will tip off on Sunday, September 27th, with a repeat of last year's best-of-three first round, best-of-five semifinals round, and best-of-seven Finals.
Notably, the 2026 WNBA schedule drop falls within the current status quo period, which allows the league to conduct certain aspects of its business as usual under the old CBA while continuing to negotiate new terms with the players union.
"I'm just starting to see [the light at the end of the tunnel]," New York Liberty star Breanna Stewart told Front Office Sports this week, hinting at a bargaining resolution while an official work stoppage remains on the table.
The WNBA continued its holding pattern this week, with the league and WNBPA reportedly agreeing to a moratorium on free agency transactions while still negotiating a new CBA.
The league office and players union did not reach a deal prior to last Friday's deadline expiration, with both parties choosing to move into a status quo period in which the old CBA terms remain in effect — rather than negotiate a third extension.
While the moratorium puts the 2026 WNBA season's free agency period in question, it also allows teams to avoid making offers to players that are unlikely to sign under the expiring CBA with its likely lower compensation thresholds than the expected incoming deal.
With nearly every WNBA veteran signing short-term deals in anticipation of the new CBA last offseason, all but two league vets are free agents entering 2026 — and while a work stoppage isn't currently imminent, the clock is ticking.
The league originally set the free agency period to begin this week, with 2026 newcomers the Toronto Tempo and Portland Fire now sitting in a holding pattern as the incoming franchises await the stalled expansion draft details.
Roster building aside, the moratorium does allow for other aspects of league business to continue, with players still able to access team facilities and openly communicate with team executives.
The WNBA CBA deadline came and went on Friday, leaving the league and the players union in a status quo holding pattern while negotiations drag on.
The WNBA and WNBPA are continuing talks under the conditions of the previous CBA, without a moratorium on offseason activity like qualifying offers to restricted free agents.
The league originally set the opening to begin free agency conversations for January 11th, allowing teams to now start sending offers through January 20th — though those proposed deals must abide by the terms of the expired CBA.
Amidst the deluge of one-year deals inked last offseason in anticipation of a renegotiated CBA — and the significant compensation bump likely to result from a new agreement — nearly all WNBA veterans are now free agents, with reports indicating that players aren't eager to sign contracts under the old CBA.
This year's free agency period also hinges on the league's expected two-team expansion draft, with incoming franchises Portland and Toronto unable to build their rosters due to the ongoing CBA delays.
Though the WNBA is reportedly not yet considering locking out the players, the WNBPA recently reserved the right to formally authorize a work stoppage through a strike measure, saying the "WNBA and its teams have failed to meet us at the table with the same spirit and seriousness."
One of the newest WNBA teams stepped out this week, as the Toronto Tempo unveiled their debut jerseys Tuesday ahead of their inaugural 2026 season.
"Today marks another meaningful milestone on our journey to bringing Canada's first WNBA team to life," Toronto CMO Whitney Bell said in Tuesday's release. "Every detail of these uniforms is intentional."
The designs feature the team's signature Borealis Blue and Tempo Bordeaux colors, with six speed lines down the sides mirroring the Tempo's logo.
"We've created a design that brings our brand to life and represents our city, our fans, and our team," said Bell. "We cannot wait for our players — and our fans — to wear them with pride."
While the WNBA expects that Toronto will hit the court next season alongside fellow incoming franchise the Portland Fire, stagnant CBA negotiations have delayed both expansion drafts.
In the meantime, the teams are moving forward with staff hirings and the development of on- and off-court identities as they wait to build out their rosters.
How to purchase the inaugural Toronto Tempo jerseys
While there is no release date yet for the team's "Heroine" jersey, the Toronto Tempo's "Explorer" jersey will be available for purchase beginning in January.
Fans looking to snag a jersey can sign up to receive the latest drop dates at TorontoTempo.com.