WNBA: Get ready for the Fire/Tempo expansion draft on April 3

The first order of business in the forthcoming WNBA offseason frenzy is officially on the calendar.

WNBA Expansion Draft 2026 will be held on Friday, April 3 at 3:30 p.m. ET. The draft will be broadcast on ESPN.

A coin toss will be held between the two expansion teams, the Portland Fire and Toronto Tempo, but not simply to determine which franchise will pick first in the expansion draft. The winner of the coin toss can choose to pick first in the expansion draft and then receive the No. 7 pick in the college draft, or the winner can defer to the second pick in the expansion draft and gain the No. 6 pick in the college draft.

The draft will feature two rounds, with each team drafting up to six players per round. The team that selects first in the first round of the expansion draft will have the second pick of the second round; otherwise, the two teams will alternate picks, drafting from the unprotected list of players.

That unprotected list will be compiled after the WNBA’s 13 existing franchises designate their five protected players when they submit their roster lists to the league by this Sunday, March 29. All players not protected can be drafted by the Fire or Tempo, although only one player can be drafted from each existing team.

If the Fire or Tempo draft players not under contract for the 2026 season, a highly likely scenario since a significant majority of the league’s players are free agents, the rights held by the player’s previous team will transfer to the Fire or Tempo. For example, a restricted free agent will still be a restricted free agent.

However, both Portland and Toronto can select only one player who is a potential unrestricted free agent. In a notable change from the expansion draft held for the Golden State Valkyries, unrestricted free agents who have twice been designated as core players, meaning they no longer can be cored, can be selected by Portland or Toronto.

After every existing team submits their roster list and until an identified time before the expansion draft, Portland and Toronto can execute trades with existing teams. The trades allowable include:

For an example of the first type of allowable trade, let’s say that Rae Burrell was left unprotected by the Los Angeles Sparks and the Washington Mystics were interested in acquiring her, the Mystics could offer assets to the Tempo to facilitate that acquisition through the expansion draft.

As an example of the second type of permitted trade, imagine that the Seattle Storm are not interested in having Lexie Brown, one of two veterans with a guaranteed contract for 2026, on their roster. The Storm could offer the Fire and extra asset to select Brown in the expansion draft.