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<\/p>\n\u201cThis will be talked about in case studies in business schools. It will be interesting how this all happens, and it\u2019s not just us as expansion teams but with the league as a whole, how this goes down.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t<\/p>\n
The expansion draft will consist of two rounds, with Portland and Toronto picking from a designated pool of available players as determined by each of the current 13 WNBA teams. The Tempo have the even-numbered picks in the first round and the odd numbers in the second round. A maximum of two players can be selected from each team.<\/p>\n
The WNBA will be holding its collegiate draft on April 13. The Dallas Wings have the first overall pick for a second year in a row, Toronto selects sixth, and the Fire will draft seventh.<\/p>\n
Between the expansion draft, free agency and the collegiate draft, Resch and Wright Rogers have a very deep talent pool to build the Tempo\u2019s first-ever roster from.<\/p>\n
Savanna Hamilton, co-host of the \u201cCinderella Stories\u201d women\u2019s sports podcast, said Toronto can get a strong core of veteran players through astute decisions over the coming days.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t know who is protected, who\u2019s not protected, of course, so in a perfect world, you\u2019d hope that in free agency the Tempo can go get a major star, like an A\u2019ja Wilson or Napheesa Collier,\u201d said Hamilton. \u201cBut we can\u2019t live in fantasy; we live in reality. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s actually tons of talent out there that it\u2019s really exciting to take a look at.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hamilton noted that the Las Vegas Aces have a deep roster \u2014 including Wilson \u2014 and can\u2019t reasonably protect every player from Toronto or the Fire in the expansion draft.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne name that really stands out to me is Jewell Loyd,\u201d said Hamilton of the Aces guard who is a three-time champion, a six-time all-star and was the WNBA\u2019s Rookie of the Year in 2015. \u201cI think she could potentially be a huge starter piece, because that might be the player that (Vegas) has to leave unprotected.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe could bring a lot of experience, she\u2019s an all-star, she\u2019s won championships, she has had a great career.\u201d<\/p>\n
One thing that\u2019s certain is that the Tempo won\u2019t be taking any unprotected Chicago sky players.<\/p>\n
Toronto acquired the 26th overall pick in the collegiate draft from the Chicago Sky via the New York Liberty on Wednesday. In exchange, the Tempo agreed to pass on selecting from Chicago\u2019s unprotected list in the expansion draft.<\/p>\n
That means Toronto holds the sixth, 22nd, 26th, and 36th picks in the upcoming WNBA Draft.<\/p>\n
Hamilton also believes there\u2019s an opportunity for the Tempo to add two Canadians, as well, with Aaliyah Edwards of Kingston, Ont., and Bridget Carleton of Chatham-Kent, Ont., as possible acquisitions. Edwards is under contract with the Connecticut Sun, and Carleton is a free agent.<\/p>\n
\u201cAliyah Edwards, 100 per cent would be a cultural piece, a Canadian fit. She would probably love to be at home, and I think there would be mutual interest,\u201d said Hamilton. <\/p>\n
\u201cBridget is phenomenal. She didn\u2019t have the best showing in the WNBA playoffs last year, but overall on a fit level, on a Canadian level, she\u2019s versatile.\u201d<\/p>\n
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 2, 2026.<\/p>\n
John Chidley-Hill, The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cThis will be talked about in case studies in business schools. It will be interesting how this all…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":578219,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[629],"tags":[49,48,82,630],"class_list":{"0":"post-578218","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wnba","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-wnba"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/578218","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=578218"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/578218\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/578219"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=578218"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=578218"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=578218"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}