WNBA expansion draft set
Toronto Tempo and the Portland Fire will pick their inaugural rosters in the 2026 Expansion Draft — with Portland becoming the first WNBA franchise to take part in a second expansion draft. Teams are finalizing protected lists ahead of selections that will reshape rosters. (herhoopstats.substack.com) (sportsbookreview.com)
The expansion draft is scheduled for Friday, April 3 at 3:30 p.m. ET with live telecast on ESPN and streaming available on fubo. (cbssports.com) A coin toss gave the Toronto Tempo the choice of draft positioning in the annual draft, which resulted in Portland receiving the first selection in the expansion draft; Portland’s assigned expansion picks are Nos. 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22 and 24 while Toronto’s are Nos. 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 13, 15, 17, 19, 21 and 23. (cbssports.com) Each of the 13 existing WNBA clubs had to submit a list of every player to whom it holds rights by Sunday, March 29, and under this year’s rules each club may designate up to five protected players; the league did not publicly release the submitted protection lists. (fever.wnba.com) The expansion draft will be conducted in a two‑round, snake format with up to 12 selections per round (six picks per team per round), teams alternating within rounds and the order reversing in round two, and neither expansion team is required to make all six available picks. (fever.wnba.com) Portland and Toronto may select at most two players from any single existing franchise overall and only one player from a given franchise in each round, meaning any incumbent club can lose no more than two players in the draft. (fever.wnba.com) Special eligibility provisions limit each expansion club to selecting only one unprotected player categorized as a “potential unrestricted free agent” (a player with five or more years of service who does not have a 2026 contract), and if that player is Core‑eligible the expansion club can use a Core designation or, if the player is no longer Core‑eligible, the selecting expansion team becomes the only club able to negotiate a supermax with them. (fever.wnba.com) A pre‑draft trade window opened March 30 and closes April 2 to allow the expansion clubs to negotiate deals — including agreements to select particular players and immediately trade them — and the expansion teams may acquire the rights to players who have not yet signed contracts for 2026 rather than active contracts. (sportsbookreview.com)
