The WNBA will hold its 2026 Expansion Draft on April 3, with the Portland Fire and Toronto Tempo each selecting from the unprotected lists of all 13 existing franchises.
The WNBA announced it will hold an Expansion Draft on Friday, April 3. ESPN will have the broadcast beginning at 3:30 p.m. ET. The Portland Fire and Toronto Tempo will use the draft to begin constructing their inaugural rosters for the 2026 season.
Before the draft, a coin toss between the two franchises is scheduled for Friday, March 27. The winner can choose between holding the first overall pick in the Expansion Draft or moving up to the sixth pick — rather than seventh — in the first round of the annual college draft on April 13.
The Expansion Draft runs two rounds in snake format, meaning the team with the first pick in round one makes the second selection in round two. Each existing WNBA team must submit a complete roster list to the league office by Sunday, March 29, accounting for every player to whom the team holds rights — those on active, suspended, draft, core, or retired lists as of the final day of the 2025 regular season.
The 13 existing franchises can each protect up to five players, keeping them off the board entirely. Everyone else becomes available, with Portland and Toronto each permitted to take one player off every team's unprotected list.
Players who have finished their contracts and carry five or more years of WNBA service through 2025 must be designated as potential unrestricted free agents. Each team then has to list them as either protected or unprotected. Portland and Toronto can each select one such player, and doing so comes with a perk — exclusive rights to offer that player a supermax contract.
Portland and Toronto can also work out trades with existing teams during a window that closes the day before the draft, including deals to select or pass on specific unprotected players.
In the college draft, the two teams will alternate picks across three rounds. Whichever franchise wins the March 27 coin toss picks sixth in each round, with the other slotting in at seventh.
Both teams will surely hope to emulate the success the Golden State Valkyries achieved in their first WNBA season. Despite being hit hard by injuries late in the season, Golden State finished above .500 at 23-21.
The Fire and Tempo open their inaugural seasons in May.