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WNBA Expansion Draft, explained: How the picks will work, rules and more to know about Toronto, Portland rosters
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- WNBA Expansion Draft, explained: How the picks will work, rules and more to know about Toronto, Portland rosters
WNBA Expansion Draft, explained: How the picks will work, rules and more to know about Toronto, Portland rosters originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
For the second consecutive offseason, the WNBA is expanding.
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After the Golden State Valkyries became the league's 13th squad last year, and the first expansion team in nearly two decades, two more franchises will soon make their debuts: the Portland Fire and Toronto Tempo.
Neither new team, however, has any players yet. To gather their talent, both franchises will participating in the WNBA Expansion Draft on Friday, Apr. 3, as the first major domino of the 2026 offseason.
The two teams are set to build out their rosters with players on other WNBA rosters — but, of course, there will be rules and regulations for how the draft will work and which players are eligible.
Here's your guide to the 2026 WNBA Expansion Draft rules.
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MORE: The Sporting News' latest 2026 WNBA Mock Draft
WNBA Expansion Draft, explained
Following the new WNBA CBA, there are some different regulations in-place for the Expansion Draft.
Player pool
All 13 of the current WNBA teams had to submit a list to the league office by Mar. 29, consisting of all the players they have rights to as of the final day of the 2025 regular season — which includes players that are active, suspended, draft list/reserved, core, or on retired lists. Of those players, the 13 teams can designate a maximum of five "Protected Players," those who will not be available for selection in the Expansion Draft.
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Every other player is placed onto the "unprotected list," meaning they can be selected in the draft.
In 2025, the maximum amount of protected players was six. That number has decreased to five for the 2026 draft. Also of note for fans: the list of which players were protected by each franchise was not made public.
Additionally, no Chicago Sky players are set to be taken in the 2026 expansion draft — both Portland and Toronto have agreed to trades with Chicago that legally involved the agreement that neither expansion team would take any unprotected Sky players. For further details about how trades work in the expansion draft, read below.
Player selection
The 2026 WNBA Expansion Draft will have two rounds, each of which will have up to 12 picks. Because there are two teams, each one will have six selections; following a coin toss, Portland received the No. 1 pick, and from there, the Fire and Tempo alternate picks in a snake format, so Toronto opens the second round. However, neither team is required to make all six picks in each round.
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A maximum of two players from each of the 13 current WNBA teams can be selected, meaning Portland and Toronto, combined, can only take a total of two players from one team. Additionally, those two players must be selected in different rounds; if a player from Team X goes in the first round, a second player from Team X cannot be picked until the second round.
When an expansion team selects a player, they assume the same rights and contract situation that player had with their previous team.
Here is the full draft order:
Round 1 (Picks 1-12)
Portland
Toronto
Portland
Toronto
Portland
Toronto
Portland
Toronto
Portland
Toronto
Portland
Toronto
Round 2 (Picks 13-24)
13. Toronto
14. Portland
15. Toronto
16. Portland
17. Toronto
18. Portland
19. Toronto
20. Portland
21. Toronto
22. Portland
23. Toronto
24. Portland
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Free agents, trades
This WNBA offseason, there are 77 unrestricted free agents, creating another wrinkle in the expansion draft.
Any unprotected WNBA player who has five or more years of service and does not have a contract for the 2026 season is considered a "Potential Unrestricted Free Agent," and each expansion team only has the capability to select one player under that description.
That selected player then becomes eligible for a supermax offer from the team that selects her, but other teams are still able to negotiate.
Additionally, in the days before the Expansion Draft, Portland and Toronto were permitted to make agreements with existing teams, including selecting a player with the intention of trading them immediately, or agreeing not to select certain players from a team's unprotected list in exchange for assets.
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That was the case for both expansion teams, as Portland and Toronto each agreed to separate trades with the Sky.
In the Fire's trade with the Sky, Portland received the No. 17 pick in the 2026 WNBA Draft, in exchange for the No. 21 pick and the agreement to not select a Sky player in the Expansion Draft. In the Tempo's trade with the sky, Toronto received the No. 26 pick in the 2026 WNBA Draft from the Sky, in exchange for the team not selecting any Chicago players in the Expansion Draft.
Because of those deals, no Sky players will be taken in the Expansion Draft.
