Fire and Tempo Deployed Starkly Different Strategies in WNBA Expansion Draft
After months of waiting, fans finally have an idea what the Toronto Tempo and Portland Fire will look like in their inaugural seasons. They made their expansion draft picks, selecting 11 players each from the existing teams and laying the foundation for their 2026 rosters.
As expected, neither franchise was able to secure an All-Star or overly surprising pick—although the Tempo selected a pretty big fish with Marina Mabrey.
The two organizations approached the draft with very different strategies. The Fire’s picks point towards a slower build with several young, high-upside players going to Portland, while Toronto will welcome a group of older, more experienced players. Both strategies are very much in line with the franchise’s head coach hires. Sandy Brondello is a championship coach who will want to win soon. Alex Sarama, meanwhile, earned a reputation as a respected player development coach.
The Fire’s roster features a lot of untapped potential
The Fire’s first pick was Lynx veteran Bridget Carleton. After that, their selections trended younger and less proven. Between Carla Leite, Luisa Geiselsöder, Emily Engstler, Haley Jones, Sarah Ashlee Barker, Nyadiew Puoch, and Nika Mühl, the Fire selected six players who are all under 25 and/or just finished their rookie seasons in the W.
Geiselsöder, Leite, Barker, and Mühl were only able to show small flashes of what they could do in the W—Leite and Geiselsöder more so than Barker and Mühl. Barker spent her rookie season playing a limited role for the Sparks. Mühl only played 16 games in her rookie season and missed last year with a torn ACL. She will also miss this season with another ACL tear. Geislesöder, on the other hand, played her way into the Wings’ starting lineup, and Leite impressed as a reserve for the Valkyries.
Puoch hasn’t even made her WNBA debut yet, but she is only 21 years old and already wrapped up her fourth season in the WNBL.
Engstler and Jones are the only players in the bunch with more than one season of WNBA experience, but they also come with a lot of upside and potential just waiting to be unlocked. Despite being high picks in their respective draft classes, both struggled to carve out steady roles. Maybe Alex Sarama and the Fire can unlock the potential that made them top prospects just a few years ago. Jones was able to show glimpses of it with the Wings last season.
The Tempo went for older players
The Tempo took a page out of the Valkyries’ book and selected a bunch of veteran role players who could contribute to a winning team right away.
Not all of the players they picked have a ton of experience in the W—Mabrey is the only one with more than three seasons under her belt—but most of them spent a lot of time playing overseas and in international competitions.
Julie Allemand, for example, only played three seasons in the W, but found plenty of success playing in EuropeLeague and with the Belgian national team. Maria Kliundikova also wrapped up just her third WNBA season last year as a key reserve for the Lynx. Even Lexi Held and Kitija Laksa, who were rookies for the Mercury last season, have a ton of experience playing professionally in other leagues.
Aaliyah Nye and Adja Kane are the only players under 25. Everyone else is at least 26 and has two or more seasons of WNBA experience.
Elaine Blum covers women’s basketball for On SI from Europe. She has been writing about women's hoops since 2023 and holds a Bachelor’s degree in English and Journalism and a master’s degree in American Studies with a focus on women’s and gender studies. She started playing basketball when she was 10 years old and won several league and state championships at the youth and senior level.