NEW YORK – The Portland Fire and Toronto Tempo began the process of building their inaugural rosters by selecting a combined total of 22 players in the WNBA Expansion Draft 2026 presented by State Street Investment Management SPY, the WNBA announced today.
“Today was an incredibly exciting day for Portland as we begin the roster construction ahead of the debut season tip-off,” said Fire General Manager Vanja Černivec. “Throughout this process, our priority was finding players who embody effort, selflessness, and a commitment to team success. Each player we selected reflects the culture of what we are building, and the style of play we want the Fire to represent from day one.”
“This marks the start of building the Toronto Tempo the right way,” added Tempo General Manager Monica Rogers. “We were deliberate in assembling a roster built on versatility, depth, and competitiveness. This group brings leadership, defensive edge, and scoring across the floor, and every player was selected with a clear expectation to compete at a high level, hold the standard, and help define the culture we’re setting in Toronto.”
The complete results of the WNBA Expansion Draft 2026 presented by State Street Investment Management SPY are as follows:
| Rnd | Pick | Team | Player | Former Team | Pos | Ht | Yrs | College/Country |
| 1 | 1 | Portland | Bridget Carleton* | Minnesota | F | 6-2 | 6 | Iowa State/Canada |
| 1 | 2 | Toronto | Julie Allemand | Los Angeles | G | 5-8 | 2 | Castors Braine/Belgium |
| 1 | 3 | Portland | Carla Leite | Golden State | G | 5-9 | 1 | France |
| 1 | 4 | Toronto | Nyara Sabally | New York | C | 6-5 | 2 | Oregon |
| 1 | 5 | Portland | Luisa Geiselsöder | Dallas | C | 6-4 | 1 | Germany |
| 1 | 6 | Toronto | Marina Mabrey* | Connecticut | G | 5-11 | 6 | Notre Dame |
| 1 | 7 | Portland | Emily Engstler | Washington | F | 6-1 | 3 | Louisville |
| 1 | 8 | Toronto | Aaliyah Nye | Las Vegas | G | 6-0 | 1 | Alabama |
| 1 | 9 | Portland | Maya Caldwell | Atlanta | G | 5-11 | 3 | Georgia |
| 1 | 10 | Toronto | Alexa Held | Phoenix | G | 5-10 | 1 | DePaul |
| 1 | 11 | Portland | Chloe Bibby | Indiana | F | 6-2 | 1 | Maryland/Australia |
| 1 | 12 | Toronto | PASS | PASS | ||||
| 2 | 13 | Toronto | María Conde | Golden State | F | 6-1 | 0 | Florida State/Spain |
| 2 | 14 | Portland | Haley Jones | Dallas | F | 6-1 | 2 | Stanford |
| 2 | 15 | Toronto | Maria Kliundikova | Minnesota | F | 6-4 | 2 | Dynamo Kursk/Russia |
| 2 | 16 | Portland | Nyadiew Puoch | Atlanta | F | 6-3 | 0 | Australia |
| 2 | 17 | Toronto | Adja Kane | New York | C | 6-3 | 1 | France |
| 2 | 18 | Portland | Sarah Ashlee Barker | Los Angeles | G | 6-0 | 1 | Alabama |
| 2 | 19 | Toronto | Nikolina Milić | Connecticut | F | 6-3 | 3 | Bosnia and Herzegovina |
| 2 | 20 | Portland | Sug Sutton | Washington | G | 5-8 | 3 | Texas |
| 2 | 21 | Toronto | Kitija Laksa | Phoenix | G | 6-1 | 1 | South Florida/Latvia |
| 2 | 22 | Portland | PASS | PASS | ||||
| 2 | 23 | Toronto | Kristy Wallace | Indiana | G | 5-11 | 4 | Baylor/Australia |
| 2 | 24 | Portland | Nika Mühl | Seattle | G | 6-0 | 2 | Connecticut/Croatia |
* Denotes an unrestricted free agent, meaning that Portland and Toronto may designate the player a “Core” player, giving the team exclusive negotiating rights to her in exchange for an offer of a one-year, fully guaranteed contract at the maximum salary and/or may be the only team that can negotiate a supermax contract with the player.
As a result of separate trades made by Portland and Toronto with the Chicago Sky on Wednesday, both the Fire and Tempo agreed not to select a player from Chicago’s list of Unprotected Players.
Two players chosen in the WNBA Expansion Draft 2026 presented by State Street Investment Management SPY have won a WNBA championship during their career: Nyara Sabally with the New York Liberty in 2024, and Aaliyah Nye with the Las Vegas Aces in 2025.
The list of players selected also boasts 14 international players – Chloe Bibby, Nyadiew Puoch and Kristy Wallace (Australia), Julie Allemand (Belgium), Nikolina Milić (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Bridget Carleton (Canada), Nika Mühl (Croatia), Carla Leite and Adja Kane (France), Luisa Geiselsöder and Nyara Sabally (Germany), Kitija Laksa (Latvia), Maria Kliudikova (Russia), and María Conde (Spain),
The WNBA Expansion Draft 2026 presented by State Street Investment Management SPY consisted of two rounds with Portland and Toronto selecting from a pool of available players as determined by each of the other 13 WNBA franchises. Each of those 13 teams was required to submit a maximum of five players who were “Protected” and therefore not eligible for selection in the WNBA Draft 2026 presented by State Street Investment Management SPY.
With Portland having the first selection in the first round, and Toronto selecting first in the second round, the Fire and Tempo alternated selections in each round, having the right to acquire the player contract of, or the negotiating rights to, one player listed on the Unprotected List of each of the existing 13 teams. Portland and Toronto each had the option of selecting one player who is a “Potential Unrestricted Free Agent.
In the upcoming 2026 WNBA Draft presented by State Street Investment Management SPY, the Tempo holds picks No. 6. 22, 26, and 36. The Fire owns picks No. 7, 17, and 37.
Toronto will open the regular season on Friday, May 8 when it hosts the Washington Mystics. Portland will begin play the following day when it hosts the Sky.
