Fewer protected players mean tough choices for WNBA teams. Portland and Toronto gain access to more talent in a reshaped league.
WNBA teams are bracing for a much harsher calculus in this year’s expansion draft, with executives expecting to protect only five to six players as the league welcomes the Portland Fire and Toronto Tempo. The protection limit — down from six last offseason — is poised to reshape roster strategy across the league as collective bargaining agreement negotiations continue.
The shift, first reported by ESPN, comes as front offices navigate two complex timelines at once: preparing for expansion while awaiting the outcome of a new CBA that is expected to significantly raise player salaries and could alter mechanisms such as the core designation. With dozens of veteran players trending toward unrestricted free agency under a richer financial landscape, limiting protections to five per team is expected to make more talent available to Portland and Toronto than the Golden State Valkyries had access to in 2024.
Last year’s expansion rules allowed Golden State to assemble a roster that quickly reached the postseason. This time, the league appears positioned to prioritize competitive balance by creating a deeper player pool for both incoming franchises. According to ESPN, the Fire and Tempo will also be allowed to select players whose rights are held by teams despite not appearing in the WNBA last season, and each expansion club may draft one unrestricted free agent to potentially apply the core designation.
Even with some rules still subject to the final CBA, the reduction to five protected slots has immediate implications. Several franchises with deep or youthful rosters — including Dallas, Minnesota and Los Angeles — face difficult decisions ranging from exposing key rotation players to weighing whether holding onto a core-eligible veteran is worth sacrificing long-term developmental pieces. For teams that previously relied on six-player protection, the new framework forces a sharper ranking of organizational priorities.
ESPN’s projections outline how tight those decisions could become. The Dream, Sky, Sun and Wings all have clear-cut foundational pieces, but the fifth protected slot leaves little margin for error, especially for Dallas, which may have to risk losing contributors such as Haley Jones, Grace Berger, Li Yueru or Diamond Miller. Other teams face similar dilemmas. The Sparks could be forced to leave Azurá Stevens unprotected, Minnesota might expose Bridget Carleton despite her value, and New York could have to make a choice between Marine Johannes and Nyara Sabally even with Breanna Stewart and Jonquel Jones ineligible for selection.
The compressed protection limit also raises the likelihood that several teams will see significant pieces selected — a departure from last offseason, when only New York lost a major contributor and Seattle escaped without a player drafted.
As the league continues internal discussions and awaits clarity on the CBA, teams are assembling preliminary lists with a shared understanding: this expansion draft is expected to be deeper, more disruptive, and more consequential than the last. The reduction to five protections may prove to be one of the most pivotal rules in shaping the next era of WNBA roster construction.