WNBA Mock Expansion Draft Lists Two Sun Selected by Incoming Franchises

The WNBA is in a fascinating position currently, with its CBA negotiations now extended through the start of 2026 but no clear agreement in site.

There is hope of of letting the offseason progress normally until an agreement. This offseason will be an interesting one for other reasons, with one of the most notable being the league’s expansion, adding two more teams ahead of the 2026 season.

With that, they will be holding an expansion draft, allowing the two teams to select from players not protected by the franchises currently in place. With each team being allowed five protections, keeping their own players on contract, the remaining players under contract would be eligible to be drafted by the two new franchises.

Recently, Sabreena Merchant and Ben Pickman of The Athletic posted their rendition of what this expansion draft could look like, including each team’s protected players, and who may end up being selected by the incoming Toronto Tempo and Portland Fire. In this specific mock example, two Connecticut Sun players ended up being chosen, with one heading to each of the two expansion franchises.

In this prospective expansion draft put together by The Athletic, the two Sun players who ended up being chosen were 2025 second-round pick Rayah Marshall, who went to the Portland Fire, and Haley Peters, who moves on to the Toronto Tempo. Both players were relatively late selections, as Marshall was taken in the sixth round, while Peters was selected in the eighth round.

The key insight into the Fire selecting Marshall was the notion of her upside, as the final sentence of the description was, “There is a player here, if Portland can find it.” This is certainly the case, as Marshall is only one year removed from being drafted, and showed immense flashes in college of being a valuable player. While Connecticut has not been able to get her much playing time, an expansion franchise may be able to.

As for Peters, her reliable defense and rebounding presence were the reason for the selection, in addition to having some veteran leadership on what will likely be a pretty young roster overall. Another player who did not get a ton of playing time in 2025, she will look to turn a strong international performance this winter into a more productive 2026.

As for the five players protected by the Sun, they listed Aaliyah Edwards, Leïla Lacan, Aneesah Morrow, Olivia Nelson-Ododa and Saniya Rivers, with Marina Mabrey being added as the sixth after the first selection.