2026 WNBA Expansion Draft is set on April 3rd
Rey Moralde
Host · Writer
NEW YORK — One of the first steps towards building the expansion teams is set.
Originally slated for April 6th, the WNBA has scheduled the expansion draft for Friday, April 3rd. The 14th and 15th teams of the league, the Portland Fire and the Toronto Tempo, will have an opportunity to select one player from each of the 13 teams.
The 13 teams can only protect a maximum of five players. The expansion teams can select anyone on that unprotected list from the team whose rights were held by the final day of the 2025 regular season whether they’re active, suspended, draft list/reserved, retired, etc. A coin toss will determine which of the two teams will select first.
Other rules to highlight from the press release:
“Only one of the players selected by Portland and only one of the players selected by Toronto in the Expansion Draft may be a “Potential Unrestricted Free Agent.” Such a Potential Unrestricted Free Agent may be selected even if they can no longer be designated as a Core Player, permitting the selecting team to be the only team that can negotiate a supermax contract with such player.
Between the time that the Roster Lists are submitted and a designated time on the day before the Expansion Draft, Portland and Toronto will be permitted to make the following trades with existing teams: (i) an agreement to select a particular player from an Unprotected List and trade that player to a team other than her existing team; and (ii) an agreement to select (or not select) a particular player from such trading team’s Unprotected List."
The last time the league had an expansion draft was after the 2024 season when the Golden State Valkyries came in as the 13th franchise for the W. The player that they ended up choosing from the Sparks was Stephanie Talbot. At the time, teams could protect a maximum of six players.
It’s safe to say that the Sparks won’t be able to keep everyone from last year’s roster. But there’s also a chance that the expansion teams won’t select anyone from the Sparks, unlikely as it may be. Last year, the Valkyries did not select a player from the Seattle Storm roster.
The press release also mentioned where the two expansion teams will select in the college draft. They will be slotted in the 6-7 spots (go ahead; you know you want to) and they will alternate as such that the team that selected 6th in the first round will choose 7th in the second round and vice-versa.
The 2026 WNBA offseason is getting ready to heat up. And the chaos will start with the expansion draft happening on April 3rd.
