WNBA NEWS - WNBA Expansion Draft

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Set for Friday, April 3 on ESPN - The Expansion Draft will consist of two rounds with Portland and Toronto having the ability to select from a designated pool of available players as determined by each of the current 13 teams - THIS DAY IN THE NBA

NEW YORK USA - (NBA)

Friday March 27, 2026

The WNBA's 14th and 15th franchises, the Portland Fire and Toronto Tempo, set to begin play in May, will begin assembling their respective rosters when the league conducts the WNBA Expansion Draft 2026 presented by State Street Investment Management SPY on Friday, April 3. Coverage and analysis will be provided by ESPN, which will air the WNBA Expansion Draft Special 2026 Presented by State Street Investment Management SPY at 3:30 p.m. ET.

The Expansion Draft will consist of two rounds with Portland and Toronto having the ability to select from a designated pool of available players as determined by each of the current 13 teams.

The Fire and the Tempo will "snake" picks such that the team that holds the first pick in the first round via the coin toss selection will have the second pick in the second round. In each round, Portland and Toronto will alternate selections and shall have the right to acquire the player contract of, or the negotiating rights to, one player listed on the Unprotected List of each of the existing 13 teams. In the college draft, Portland and Toronto will alternate picks such that whichever team holds the sixth pick in the first round will then have the seventh pick in the second round and the sixth pick in the third round. The other team will have the seventh pick in the first round, the sixth pick in the second round, and the seventh pick in the third round.

In preparation for the Expansion Draft, each of the existing 13 teams will be required to submit to the league office by Sunday, March 29, a Roster List that includes every player to whom the team has rights - players on the team's active, suspended, draft list/reserved, core, or retired lists - as of the final day of the 2025 regular season. The 13 teams will be required to designate a maximum of five "Protected Players" who will not be available for selection in the Expansion Draft. All other players on each team's Roster List will be eligible for selection by the Fire and Tempo ("Unprotected players)".

If a player who is not signed to a contract for the 2026 season is selected by Portland or Toronto in the Expansion Draft, the selecting team will receive whatever rights to such player that the existing team would have had if that player was not selected in the Expansion Draft.

Any player who has completed the playing services called for by her [previous] player contract and has five or more years of service as of the end of the 2025 season must be designated on the Roster List as a "Potential Unrestricted Free Agent." All such players must be further designated as either "Protected Players" or included on the Unprotected List.

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.

THIS DAY IN THE NBA

March 27, 1994 Magic Johnson returned to the Los Angeles Lakers as head coach and led them to a 110-101 victory over Milwaukee. Johnson coached the Lakers for the last 16 games of the 1993-94 season, posting a 5-11 record.

March 27, 1994 Moses Malone of Philadelphia moved past Elvin Hayes into third place on the NBA’s all-time games played list, with 1,304, during the 76ers’ 124-122 OT loss against Boston at Hartford.

March 27, 1998 An NBA record 62,046 fans witnessed Chicago's 89-74 win over Atlanta in the Georgia Dome.

March 27, 1998 Karl Malone tied Moses Malone (27,409) for fourth place on the all-time scoring list.

March 27, 1998 Orlando's Chuck Daly recorded his 600th career NBA victory with a 100-75 win over Houston.

March 27, 1999 Utah’s Karl Malone and John Stockton are both held under 10 points in a game against the Los Angeles Clippers. This marks the first time since November 21, 1987 that both Malone and Stockton did not reach double figures in scoring in the same game.

March 27, 2001 Alonzo Mourning of the Miami Heat returned to action after missing the first 69 games of the season after being diagnosed with the kidney ailment focal glomerulosclerosis. Mourning recorded nine points and seven rebounds in 18 minutes of playing time.

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