Expansion teams Toronto and Portland build blind. CBA talks stall, leaving expansion draft rules, and roster building, entirely undefined.
For both the Toronto Tempo and the Portland Fire, the most critical tool for building an inaugural roster — the expansion draft — remains completely undefined, leaving both 2026 expansion clubs preparing for launch without the one mechanism that typically anchors an expansion franchise.
Last year’s Golden State Valkyries enjoyed clarity: 12 existing teams could each protect six players, Golden State could draft one unprotected player from each roster, and the front office could build around a predictable talent pool. Toronto and Portland, by contrast, have no such framework. The rules cannot be finalized until the WNBA and players union complete negotiations on a new collective bargaining agreement, which has already been extended to Jan. 9.
Until the CBA is settled, both expansion teams are effectively building blind.
Tempo president Teresa Resch said in November that the league has provided zero indication of what the draft will look like. Portland is in the same holding pattern, unable to map out who might realistically be available or how aggressively teams will be allowed to protect their rosters under a new salary system that could triple the cap and push max salaries toward $1 million.
That uncertainty affects everything: scouting, roster construction, free-agency pitches, staffing, and even philosophical decisions about style of play. With the largest free-agent class in WNBA history hitting the market — the product of players timing their contracts ahead of an expected financial jump — the question of who becomes available in expansion is more complicated than ever. Teams may protect different players depending on the final cap structure, contract rules, and guaranteed money allowed under the new CBA.
Both Toronto and Portland can pursue free agents and will receive either the sixth or seventh pick in the 2026 draft, but without expansion-draft clarity, neither franchise can project how those pieces will fit together. They also cannot determine which veterans, starters, or developmental players might form the backbone of their inaugural roster.
Even hire decisions have been made without knowing what type of roster they will inherit. Toronto head coach Sandy Brondello leaned into the uncertainty, saying she hopes the franchise's appeal — including Toronto's market and a summer-friendly environment — can attract free agents regardless of draft outcomes. But she acknowledged that predicting what the first Tempo roster will look like is impossible.
Portland faces an identical challenge: trying to build a competitive blueprint without knowing whether they will be allowed to draft one player per team, multiple players from a reduced number of teams, or a modified version of the system Golden State used last year.
With three more expansion teams (Cleveland, Detroit, and Philadelphia) coming from 2028–30, the CBA will set a precedent that affects not just Toronto and Portland, but the entire next wave of league growth.
For now, both 2026 entrants are operating in limbo — preparing for a draft they cannot yet plan, waiting for rules that may reshape their entire organizational strategy.