The GIST: The coin has spoken, and the Portland Fire own the No. 1 pick in today’s 3:30 p.m. ET WNBA expansion draft. The Fire and Toronto Tempo will alternate picks in the snake-style, two-round draft, building their inaugural rosters by selecting up to 12 players each from the league’s 13 existing teams.
- The draft rules mirror the ones used in the Golden State Valkyries’ expansion draft in December 2024 (save the number of protected players, which is now five instead of six), but there’s an added wrinkle this time around: an unprecedented number of free agents.
👀 The free agency conundrum: There are two main types of free agents, unrestricted (UFA) and restricted (RFA). UFAs can sign with anyone, while RFAs can negotiate with other franchises but must allow their current team the right of first refusal. Of the league’s 123 current free agents, a whopping 77 are UFAs — and that’ll have massive expansion draft implications. Let’s discuss.
- 1️⃣ The Fire and Tempo can only draft one UFA each, immediately limiting the player pool. What’s more, expansion squads aren’t drafting the players themselves, just their “rights” and the exclusive ability to ink them to a supermax deal. A UFA could still opt to sign elsewhere.
- 2️⃣ This adds another layer of strategy for both expansion and already existing franchises: Teams could opt to make protection decisions based on which UFAs are expected to re-sign in free agency (a risky endeavor) or trade entry draft picks for expansion draft immunity.
- 3️⃣ So how much of their rosters will the Fire and Tempo actually build out in today’s draft? TBD. With so many UFAs available, including many of the biggest names in the sport, they could lean more heavily on free agency instead.
⭐ UFAs on the move: No one yet because free agents technically can’t sign until April 12th. But some players are making their intentions known both subtly and not-so-subtly. UFAs Breanna Stewart and Sabrina Ionescu will be staying put with the NY Liberty, while Canadian UFA Bridget Carleton removed the Minnesota Lynx from her Instagram bio, perhaps in favor of a homecoming. Stay tuned.