WNBA Expansion Draft Grades: Fire, Tempo Start Filling Out 2026 Rosters

How did each team fare in the first major step in building its roster?

Portland and Toronto took the first steps in building their 2026 rosters. | Ali Gradischer/Getty Images

With the 2026 expansion draft complete, the Toronto Tempo and Portland Fire have taken their first real steps toward building their rosters. Unlike the Golden State Valkyries a year ago, neither team drafted in isolation and Toronto and Portland had to compete over the same limited player pool. It’s only natural, then, to grade each team based on the opportunity afforded to them. With that in mind, here’s how each franchise fared in its first major roster-building test.

Portland Fire: A

Selections: 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).

Trades: Sky’s No. 17 WNBA draft pick for Fire’s No. 21 pick and not selecting a player from Chicago.

A new chapter in Portland 🔥 pic.twitter.com/4FS6Ipmqzm

— Portland Fire (@theportlandfire) April 3, 2026

Before today, we knew more about who the Fire wanted to be in theory than the type of team they would be in reality. That’s not a bad thing on its own. Alex Sarama has never coached in the WNBA before and was most recently an assistant with the Cavaliers. He is an advocate of the Constraints-Led Approach, which prioritizes adaptability and teaches players to read and react in real-time rather than memorize set plays. He has said that he wants Portland to create “maximum disruption” on defense and “relentlessly” seek out the most efficient shots on offense.

An approach in theory is different from an approach in practice, but we do now know the players who will be tasked with bringing that vision to fruition. Right from the start, the Fire selected Lynx forward Bridget Carleton, a sharpshooter who attempted 77.6% of her shots at the rim or beyond the arc. That was a common theme among Portland’s picks. The Fire also grabbed 3-and-D wing Maya Caldwell, who ranked 11th and just ahead of Carleton in that same stat, and Valkyries guard Carla Leite, a pick-and-roll specialist who likes to attack the basket. (They also took two stretch fours in Luisa Geiselsöder and Chloe Bibby, who each attempted more than 50% of their shots from beyond the arc.) If Portland wanted to find players who have efficient shot profiles, then general manager Vanja Černivec achieved that goal.

Černivec also gave Sarama plenty of length and disruption potential to work with. Haley Jones is an underrated 6'1" wing who had 1.87 blocks per 100 possessions last season, 16th best in the league. Sug Sutton is a dogged defender, and Emily Engstler (another 6'1" wing) provides Portland with another utility player to experiment with. If Nika Mühl can recover from tearing her right ACL in March—a big if after already tearing her left ACL in October 2024—the Fire have the makings of a tenacious backcourt in 2027. 

The Fire are lacking a true center and don’t have a clear go-to scorer, but no team can come away from an expansion draft with zero weaknesses. Portland receives an A here for building a team that appears to align with Sarama’s stated goals and has a solid foundation for the future.

Toronto Tempo: C

Selections: Julie Allemand (Sparks), Nyara Sabally (Liberty), Marina Mabrey (Sun), Aaliyah Nye (Aces), Lexi Held (Mercury), María Conde (Valkyries), Maria Kliundikova (Lynx), Adja Kane (Liberty), Nikolina Milić (Sun), Kitija Laksa (Mercury), Kristy Wallace (Fever).

Trades: Sky’s No. 26 WNBA draft pick (via New York) for not selecting a player from Chicago.

All rounds: complete. ✅

All of our Tempo Expansion Draft selections have been made.

Sponsored by @Instacart pic.twitter.com/Jjqf7zxZIy

— Toronto Tempo (@TempoBasketball) April 3, 2026

The Tempo were not as much of an unknown as the Fire heading into the expansion draft. Sandy Brondello has coached in the league for more than 20 years and has found success adapting her scheme to personnel, which most recently manifested as a positionless, versatile Liberty squad. (In January, Brondello used that word—versatile—to describe the group of players Toronto would be looking for.) 

The Tempo didn’t fully make good on that intention. Marina Mabrey can step in and immediately become Toronto’s do-everything scorer. The rest of Toronto’s picks seem like specialists, not generalists. Guard Kitija Laksa likes to let it fly from deep. Center Nyara Sabally, who played for Brondello in New York, is a high-energy rim runner and rebounder. Point guard Julie Allemand is a more-than-capable distributor. Guard Aaliyah Nye is a sharpshooter from three. Each player, though, can be one-dimensional at times. 

Lexi Held and 6'4" forward Maria Kliundikova do provide some versatility. Compared to the Fire, the Tempo’s selections leave a little bit to be desired. (Hence the C grade.) It’s important to remember that the expansion draft is the first step toward formulating a complete roster, and Toronto will have the draft and free agency to improve around the edges.

With all of that being said, there’s one more grade that needs to be handed out. ...

WNBA/ESPN: F

It is hard to understate how underwhelming and deflating the presentation of the expansion draft was. ESPN revealed Portland’s selection of Carleton and Toronto’s selection of Allemand … and then proceeded to dump the full rosters in two fell swoops. Everything was revealed in the first five minutes of the show. Even if the picks were delivered ahead of time, how hard would it be to have each team’s general manager read the selections live on air and add some drama? There was no time to digest each pick, nor was there a beat to sit with the fact that Mabrey may have a new home. There has to be a better way to broadcast an event like this.

*All stats via PBP Stats.

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