{"id":618309,"date":"2026-04-21T07:12:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T07:12:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/618309\/"},"modified":"2026-04-21T07:12:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T07:12:11","slug":"tempo-centre-temi-fagbenle-doesnt-want-team-to-be-limited-by-expansion-status","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/618309\/","title":{"rendered":"Tempo centre Temi Fagbenle doesn\u2019t want team to be limited by expansion status"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Temi Fagbenle helped the Golden State Valkyries make it to the WNBA playoffs in their expansion year. The centre thinks anything is possible for Toronto’s expansion team in its inaugural season.Craig Lassig\/The Associated Press<\/p>\n

At the Toronto Tempo\u2019s training camp, Temi Fagbenle lets her presence be known. She\u2019s consistently encouraging her new teammates during scrimmages, group huddles and from the sidelines. <\/p>\n

Toronto is Fagbenle\u2019s fourth WNBA<\/a> team. She\u2019s had previous stints in Minnesota \u2013 where she won the 2017 WNBA championship \u2013 Indiana and most recently with the Golden State Valkyries for the team\u2019s inaugural season in 2025.<\/p>\n

Fagbenle, 33, is one of five rostered Tempo players with five-or-more years of WNBA experience, meaning the expansion franchise will rely on her defence, interior presence and her leadership. <\/p>\n

At Fagbenle\u2019s exit interview with Golden State in September, she noted that despite becoming a vocal person, her career hasn\u2019t always lent itself to that role. <\/p>\n

\u201c[I] started off playing tennis and that\u2019s a very individual sport, and so, coming to basketball, where you got 10 other people, 11 other people on your team, it\u2019s like, \u2018Oh, you can\u2019t be an introvert here,\u2019\u201d Fagbenle told reporters in San Francisco in September. \u201cYou have to help, you have to be selfless, you have to talk, you have to give eye contact \u2013 do all the things that you don\u2019t want to do and that doesn\u2019t come naturally.\u201d <\/p>\n

Tempo Tempo open first-ever training camp, setting inaugural season in motion<\/a><\/p>\n

Toronto signed the 6-foot-4 centre on April 14. She\u2019s averaged five points, 3.3 rebounds and 0.9 assists across her five-season career. <\/p>\n

After practice on Monday, Fagbenle said her role varies depending on the team she laces up for. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis team, yeah, I would say I\u2019m more of a leader,\u201d Fagbenle said. \u201cI would like it to be more of a leading by example, rather than just vocally, even though vocally is important.\u201d <\/p>\n

Brittney Sykes, a nine-year WNBA veteran, said Fagbenle, whom she calls \u201ctwinkle toes\u201d due to her great footwork in the paint, spoke about giving teammates grace during Toronto\u2019s first season. <\/p>\n

\u201cShe reminds us that we\u2019re all human; we\u2019re all going through this at the same time,\u201d Sykes said. \u201cIt\u2019s all new, so let\u2019s allow grace to lead our actions instead of frustration.\u201d <\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Fagbenle spent the previous off-season with the Lunar Owls of the Unrivaled league. While she prefers to lead by example, the 33-year-old has grown into becoming a vocal leader.Leonardo Fernandez\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Part of Fagbenle\u2019s graceful approach comes from wanting to treat people how you\u2019d want them to treat you. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe have so many other opponents. We have a long season, so many games to fight everyone else,\u201d Fagbenle said. \u201cThe last thing we need to be doing is fighting each other in practice.\u201d <\/p>\n

At practice, head coach Sandy Brondello said that Fagbenle\u2019s last two seasons have been her best. In Golden State, the Baltimore, Md. product posted career bests in points (7.4), rebounds (4.9), assists (1.6) and steals (0.9) through 23.7 minutes over 39 games \u2013 she started 38 of those contests. <\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s obviously at her best playing, and we\u2019re happy to have her,\u201d Brondello said. <\/p>\n

Her career year came with an expansion franchise, which means she understands the newness, history and pressure that the 2026 Tempo season will bring. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou can tend to be overwhelmed a little bit about that \u2013 whether that\u2019s the energy from outside, energy from inside \u2013 everyone\u2019s got a new job,\u201d Fagbenle said. \u201cEveryone wants to do the best that they can and give their all, so it\u2019s important to stay grounded.\u201d <\/p>\n

Sykes, who earned WNBA all-defensive first team honours in 2021 and 2023, and all-defensive second-team nods in 2020 and 2022, said that because everything is new, it means they get to lay the foundation of what Tempo basketball looks like. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe can build something really special,\u201d Sykes said. \u201cJust because it\u2019s our first year, it doesn\u2019t mean that we have to live by it; we can still play as if we weren\u2019t a first-year team.\u201d <\/p>\n

Fagbenle said that if Toronto can channel what she\u2019s seen over the last two days \u2013 the energy, fight and passion \u2013 into something positive, then \u201cthe sky\u2019s the limit.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cAs long as we keep building every day, I think we\u2019re gonna shock the world,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Temi Fagbenle helped the Golden State Valkyries make it to the WNBA playoffs…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":618310,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[629],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,49,48,876,895,896,891,878,875,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,889,890,884,904,885,909,910,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,82,865,61,900,892,886,630,883,913],"class_list":{"0":"post-618309","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wnba","8":"tag-alberta","9":"tag-arts-news","10":"tag-bc","11":"tag-breaking-news","12":"tag-breaking-news-video","13":"tag-british-columbia","14":"tag-ca","15":"tag-canada","16":"tag-canada-news","17":"tag-canada-sports","18":"tag-canada-sports-news","19":"tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","20":"tag-canadian-breaking-news","21":"tag-canadian-news","22":"tag-economy","23":"tag-education","24":"tag-environment","25":"tag-federal-government","26":"tag-foreign-news","27":"tag-globe-and-mail","28":"tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","29":"tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","30":"tag-government","31":"tag-life-news","32":"tag-lifestyle","33":"tag-local-news","34":"tag-manitoba","35":"tag-national-news","36":"tag-new-brunswick","37":"tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","38":"tag-northwest-territories","39":"tag-nova-scotia","40":"tag-nunavut","41":"tag-ontario","42":"tag-pei","43":"tag-photos","44":"tag-political-news","45":"tag-political-opinion","46":"tag-politics","47":"tag-politics-news","48":"tag-quebec","49":"tag-sports","50":"tag-sports-news","51":"tag-technology","52":"tag-travel","53":"tag-trudeau","54":"tag-us-news","55":"tag-wnba","56":"tag-world-news","57":"tag-yukon"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/618309","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=618309"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/618309\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/618310"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=618309"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=618309"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=618309"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}