The lineup for the 2026 WNBA expansion draft has been set. The Portland Fire, one of two new teams set to join the league this season, will pick first in the expansion draft, while the Toronto Tempo will pick second, the WNBA announced Friday.
A coin toss on Friday gave the Tempo the choice to take the first pick in the expansion draft, or to select the higher pick in the WNBA’s college draft. Toronto opted to take the higher WNBA draft pick, giving the Fire the No. 1 overall pick for the expansion draft.
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The expansion draft, which takes place on April 3, will consist of two rounds. The list of players that are available to draft will be released by teams later this weekend.
The college draft takes place April 13, just over a week after the end of the NCAA Tournament. The Tempo will have the No. 6 overall pick in the WNBA Draft, with the Fire holding the No. 7 overall pick.
For the second year in a row, the Dallas Wings will have the No. 1 overall pick in the WNBA Draft, followed by the Minnesota Lynx, Seattle Storm, Washington Mystics and Chicago Sky to round out the top five picks. The WNBA Draft will include a number of top college prospects, like UConn’s Azzi Fudd, LSU’s Flau’jae Johnson, UCLA’s Lauren Betts and more.
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How the expansion draft works
By Sunday, each of the WNBA’s existing 13 teams will submit a roster list to the league office that will be comprised of every player a team had the rights to on the final day of last year’s regular season.
Each team will designate a maximum of five “protected players,” who will not be available for selection during the expansion draft. The rest of the players will, on the other hand, be up for the taking as “unprotected players.”
That said, within those classifications, according to the W’s release, “any player who has completed the playing services called for by her [previous] player contract and has five or more years of service as of the end of the 2025 season must be designated on the roster list as a ‘potential unrestricted free agent.’”
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The Fire and Tempo can each select only one “potential unrestricted free agent” in the expansion draft.
It’s important to note, however, that there’s no limit on selecting other players not currently signed to a contract for the 2026 season who don’t qualify for the “potential unrestricted free agent” distinction. The selecting team will receive whatever rights to that player that the existing team would have had if said player wasn’t picked in the expansion draft, per the league’s release.
The two-round expansion draft will be a snake draft, meaning that the team that picks first (Portland) will then pick second in the second round.
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The Fire, who will be coached by former Cleveland Cavaliers assistant Alex Sarama, and the Tempo, who will be coached by former New York Liberty head coach Sandy Brondello will alternate selections, pulling from the pool of “unprotected players.”
In the process, both teams will acquire each selected player’s contract or their negotiating rights.
