On Friday, April 3, the WNBA’s newest teams, the Portland Fire and Toronto Tempo, will build part of their inaugural rosters by selecting players from the league’s 13 existing franchises.
While there are some similarities to the 2025 WNBA Expansion Draft involving the Golden State Valkyries, there are also a few key differences to note.
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Thanks to the rules established in the newly codified CBA, the Fever and the 12 other existing franchises will be allowed to protect up to five players from their submitted Roster List, which includes every player they have rights to, covering active, suspended, draft list/reserve, core, and retired lists.
Given that the exact Roster List for the Fever has not yet been publicly shared, fans can infer the Fever will likely protect guard Caitlin Clark, guard Kelsey Mitchell (unrestricted free agent), guard Lexie Hull (restricted free agent), guard Sophie Cunningham (unrestricted free agent), and center Aliyah Boston, as they looks to make a championship push this season.
After an official coin toss on March 27 to determine who would select first between the two new franchises, the Fire were named the owners of the No. 1 overall pick, while the Tempo will draft players second.
The Expansion Draft will be two rounds using a “snake format.” Portland and Toronto can each make up to six picks per round. Hypothetically, if Indiana loses a player in the first round, it can’t lose another until the second round. The Fever, nor any of the 12 other previously established franchises, can lose more than one player per round and no more than two total.
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Portland and Toronto will alternate selections and have the right to acquire the player contract of, or negotiating rights to, one player from the available pool of unprotected players. However, the Fire and Tempo can only draft one impending free agent each.
It is also worth noting that the Chicago Sky will be exempt from losing a player from their Roster List as a result of its trades with both the Fire and Tempo on April 1.
In those transactions, the Sky are swapping pick No. 17 in the 2026 WNBA Draft with Portland’s pick No. 21 in exchange for the Fire not selecting any player from Chicago’s Unprotected List in the Expansion Draft. Additionally, the Sky are sending pick No. 26 (originally belonging to the New York Liberty) in the 2026 WNBA Draft to Toronto in exchange for the Tempo not selecting any player from Chicago’s Unprotected List in the Expansion Draft.
The 2026 WNBA Expansion Draft is scheduled to begin at 2:30 pm CT and will be broadcast on ESPN.
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This article originally appeared on Hawkeyes Wire: How will the WNBA expansion draft work for the Indiana Fever?
