It’s Over Already?! The WNBA’s Expansion Draft Was a Baffling Flop

What just happened?

The 2026 WNBA expansion draft for the Portland Fire and Toronto Tempo ended up being a massive letdown from the fans’ perspective. | Photo by Joe Buglewicz/Getty Images

The 2026 WNBA expansion draft could have been an email. 

Just over one week ago, the WNBA announced that the Portland Fire and Toronto Tempo—the league’s 14th and 15th franchises debuting next month—would be selecting their rosters for their inaugural seasons. The draft would consist of two rounds, with the two franchises taking turns selecting non-protected players from the other 13 teams. 

It appeared the WNBA was about to embark on a made-for-television event. Every WNBA fan had something at stake. The growing Fire and Tempo fan bases would be watching intently to find out their new core, and fans of the other 13 teams would be holding their collective breath to learn which player their favorite team was losing in 2026.

It never got to that point, however. The expansion draft was somehow over in five minutes.

If you, like me, tuned into the ESPN broadcast when it started at 3:30 p.m. ET, within five minutes there were graphics on the screen depicting the 11 players selected by both the Fire and Tempo. And to make matters worse, those graphics appeared to depict a Lakers logo in the background. 

Portland Fire full Expansion Draft selections:

Bridget Carleton
Carla Leite
Luisa Geiselsoder
Emily Engstler
Maya Caldwell
Chloe Bibby
Haley Jones
Nyadiew Puoch
Sarah Ashlee Barker
Sug Sutton
Nika Muhl pic.twitter.com/FgHjW8UdhU

— Underdog WNBA (@UnderdogWNBA) April 3, 2026

There was no suspense. There was no analysis between picks on which players Portland and Toronto should take next. There was no insight from the ESPN panelists breaking down the decisions that each WNBA team made to protect certain players. Five minutes in, the results of the entire expansion draft were known, and ESPN pivoted to snoozy interviews with the new general managers in Portland and Toronto to hear their thoughts.

What was that?

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

Look, nobody was expecting the WNBA’s expansion draft to rise to the level of the NFL draft or even its own annual rookie draft. But it was an opportunity to run a live, compelling event and build momentum toward next month’s tipoff of the 2026 WNBA season after a long offseason headlined by CBA negotiations. Imagine an expansion draft broadcast with live look-ins at the Portland and Toronto war rooms, similar to what we see every year in the NFL. Or at the very least, if the rosters did have to be submitted ahead of time for whatever reason, the broadcast could slowly roll out the picks like ESPN does to name the women’s NCAA basketball tournament field on Selection Sunday. 

Instead, it appears the Fire and Tempo took turns selecting players on a Google Sheet ahead of time and sent the results to the league office and ESPN to toss up a few hastily-made graphics.

It was another missed opportunity by the WNBA, a league that is growing exponentially but can’t seem to get out of its own way. 

In 2024, WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert took far too long to address the racist online discourse surrounding the rivalry between Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark. Earlier that year, there was a scheduling conflict at Barclays Center and the WNBA had to move the Commissioner’s Cup championship game. And who could forget the laughably small trophy given to WNBA All-Star Game MVP Kelsey Plum in 2022?

Big and small issues alike, these are all things in the WNBA’s control. If they were serious about growing the league for its stars and for its fans, they would be doing these things right. But once again, they fell short Friday. The expansion draft was boring. It was poorly executed. And it was another missed opportunity by the WNBA to grow the league. 

There will be expansion drafts in the future for the new franchises arriving in Cleveland, Detroit and Philadelphia over the next four years. WNBA, if you’re reading this, we will watch it! Just do it right next time. 

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