A few months ago, I tried to do a Mock WNBA Expansion Draft between Portland and Toronto with the very limited information I had at the time. I used precedent from the Golden State Valkyries draft, prior rules, and more to inform my decisions… and obviously, it’s a little outdated now.
With new rules, fewer protected players per team, and a better sense of what is going on for Friday’s upcoming Expansion Draft, it’s time for an update. I had some help this time, though, by way of a podcast I cohost.
On the Wednesday edition of the Her Hoop Stats podcast, I participated in a Mock Expansion Draft with myself representing the Toronto Tempo, Sean Highkin representing the Portland Fire, and Richard Cohen representing the league/GMs of the other teams. It was mostly just a fun exercise with little seriousness, but I thought I’d share my picks here to give some indication of what could happen on Friday.
Check out the entire podcast here.
To be clear, the WNBA does not release the official protected lists in expansion drafts. Richard Cohen created his own mock protection lists (read them here!), and Sean and I worked off of those to draft our rosters. We also followed the rules of the real draft: Portland gets the first pick, one Unrestricted Free Agent per team, two rounds, teams can only have players taken from them once in each round. Let’s get into it.
Mock Toronto Tempo expansion draft picks:
From the Atlanta Dream: Nyadiew Pouch (draft rights)
By choosing someone who has not come over to the WNBA yet, the Tempo would inherit Pouch’s draft rights. Drafted in 2025, Pouch hasn’t indicated whether she will come over from Australia to play in the WNBA this summer, but this is a good stash pick if she does not. With professional and international experience already under her belt, Pouch could come over to the WNBA eventually and make a real impact on her team. I still stand by my original pick here, Isobel Borlase, but Sean took her before I could.
From the Chicago Sky: Maddy Westbeld (rookie scale contract)
Inheriting a player who is on contract is good insurance for the Tempo, and there are not very many of those players who will be left unprotected. Westbeld played her college career at Notre Dame, before being drafted to the Chicago Sky in 2025. With the ability to have players on developmental contracts now, and the expansion of WNBA rosters to a minimum of 12 players, there is more room ot develop young players like Westbeld.
From the Connecticut Sun: No picks
Teams will have the option to forfeit picks and not pick people from franchises if they do not wish to. The drafting options from the Sun are limited, unless a team wants to use their one UFA spot to bring in one of their more veteran free agents. For Canadian fans hoping Aaliyah Edwards might be available, Edwards still has two seasons left on her rookie contract, and the Sun traded away some assets for her last season, so it seems logical to assume they will protect her.
From the Dallas Wings: Grace Berger (reserved rights)
Grace Berger was a great prospect out of Indiana University a few seasons ago who got drafted to the Indiana Fever, but with the amount of guard depth the Fever had and has, she was eventually waived. Berger has bounced around to a few different teams, and her rights are now in Dallas. With Dallas having Paige Bueckers, and potentially Arike Ogunbowale and then the No. 1 pick in a very guard-heavy WNBA Draft, Berger may not be able to make the roster here this season either. Toronto grabbing her could give them a physical point guard who is developing into a good two-way prospect.
From the Golden State Valkyries: No picks
If you tune into the podcast, you’ll learn that Sean Highkin took both picks from the Valkyries right from under me! Laeticia Amihere and Cecilia Zandalasini, both of whom I think Toronto would love to pick up. Wasn’t in the cards for our exercise, though.
From the Indiana Fever: No picks
Sean also took the only player selected out of Indiana in our mock draft, Mikayla Timpson. The Fever have a young core, all still protected under rookie contracts or restricted free agents, who they will obviously work to protect.
From the Las Vegas Aces: No picks
Another hard situation where choices were either UFA’s or protected. Even if the Aces don’t protect A’ja Wilson, she likely isn’t leaving the Aces, so they could do that to give themselves another protection spot. In my dream scenario, the Tempo is able to give Jackie Young the supermax… but she was protected in this mock scenario.
From the LA Sparks: Rae Burrell (reserved rights) and Julie Allemand (restricted free agent)
The Sparks are in an intriguing situation with many great players on rookie-scale contracts, plus highly sought-after veterans like Kelsey Plum and Azura Stevens. Both Burrell and Allemand are players with a lot of potential who could find themselves in bigger roles on an expansion franchise.
From the Minnesota Lynx: Bridget Carleton (UFA), Maria Kliundicova (reserved rights)
At this point, we reach my one free agent draftee — Chatham, Ontario’s own Bridget Carleton. I went into why I think Bridget is the best-suited Canadian to bring to the Tempo this season, more on the podcast. In short, she’s been playing great overseas and on Team Canada this offseason, could get a pay raise on the Tempo compared to the Lynx, and would be a great ambassador for the team. Kliundikova is a player with a lot of size as a forward, and would be on the brink of being protected or not by the Lynx.
From the New York Liberty: Betnijah Laney-Hamilton (suspended contract)
I, for one, was shocked Richard didn’t protect Laney-Hamilton for New York. Worked out for me, though, as this would be such an iconic expansion draft pull. Laney-Hamilton missed last season due to a knee injury, but she seems to be ramping up to play this WNBA season. Her contract is suspended, meaning if she plays this season, she will be under contract from the start, and Toronto would adopt that contract if they took her. Does it happen in real life? I don’t know, the protection lists aren’t public!
From the Phoenix Mercury: Kalani Brown (under contract), Lexi Held (reserved)
Kalani Brown is one of the only players in the WNBA who is under contract and not on a rookie contract. Again, it could be a good bit on insurance for the Tempo to grab someone who is technically under contract and not have to risk the free agency implications of it all. Plus, Kalani Brown brings you some solid depth in the frontcourt. Held was one of Mercury’s positive surprises last season, when they took an out-of-the-box approach to team building that saw them bring in some untested WNBA talent. Both could see their roles expanded on a team like the Tempo.
From the Seattle Storm: Mackenzie Holmes (reserved contract)
Mackenzie Holmes is a prospect who may be able to benefit from the development program the WNBA is implementing this season, as someone who hasn’t found a solid place on a WNBA roster yet.
From the Washington Mystics: No picks
Washington is another place where most of the players that Toronto and Portland could actually pick up and keep will be protected. Their young core are all under rookie scale contracts, and while there are a few other prospects the Tempo could pick up, for the exercise, I just didn’t pick anyone.
The WNBA Expansion Draft for Toronto and Portland will be aired on Friday April 3, at 3:30 pm EST. You can watch it on ESPN in the United States, TSN in Canada, and WNBA League Pass internationally.
