{"id":260416,"date":"2026-08-31T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-08-31T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/08\/31\/the-portland-fire-the-toronto-tempo-and-golden-states-expansion-team-playbook-the-gist\/"},"modified":"2026-08-31T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-08-31T00:00:00","slug":"the-portland-fire-the-toronto-tempo-and-golden-states-expansion-team-playbook-the-gist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/08\/31\/the-portland-fire-the-toronto-tempo-and-golden-states-expansion-team-playbook-the-gist\/","title":{"rendered":"The Portland Fire, the Toronto Tempo, and Golden State\u2019s expansion team playbook | The GIST"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<p><strong>The GIST: <\/strong>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fiba.basketball\/en\/events\/fiba-womens-basketball-world-cup-2026?gad_source=1&amp;gad_campaignid=24142856107&amp;gbraid=0AAAAA9uTMqCCkM86hZOBCBGl49zH7JU4a&amp;gclid=CjwKCAjwqc_UBhBKEiwAWbl25uOE4iTxnogtujEemYBg9_jEGPWQ8juAkvH74v1TDXup7abcJTS21xoCbX8QAvD_BwE\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">FIBA World Cup<\/a> tips off on Friday, ushering in a three-week WNBA break before the regular season resumes on September 17th. While we patiently wait for more hoops, we\u2019re honing in on the debut seasons of the Portland Fire and Toronto Tempo.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The Golden State Valkyries found expansion success in 2025, making the postseason in their inaugural campaign <em>and<\/em> creating a stellar blueprint for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wnba.com\/news\/wnba-expansion-cleveland-detroit-philadelphia\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">the new teams to come<\/a>. Did the Fire and Tempo pull from the Valks\u2019 expansion playbook? In short, yes.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Acquiring superstars isn\u2019t easy under the W\u2019s current expansion draft process, so <em>something<\/em> has to make up for that lack of starpower. And while both 2026 expansion teams will miss the playoffs, their league debuts were packed with promise.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>\ud83d\udd25 Portland Fire:<\/strong> What Portland lacks in top-tier talent, it makes up for with a unique style of play. Head coach (HC) Alex Sarama\u2019s been lauded for his Constraints-Led Approach (CLA). The details differ, but the creativity mirrors Golden State HC Natalie Nakase\u2019s defense-first, high-intensity model. No one\u2019s playing quite like the Valkyries, just like no one\u2019s playing like the Fire.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>So <a href=\"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/gb\/podcast\/ep5-what-is-the-constraints-led-approach-cla\/id1709064968?i=1000630787585\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">what is CLA<\/a>? It\u2019s a coaching philosophy that prioritizes player-led decision-making under pressure. \u201cConstraints\u201d are used in practice (like a 3-on-3 drill with no dribbling) forcing players to problem solve on the fly, improving in-game adaptability. And <a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/justinrobertson\/2026\/08\/10\/why-portland-fire-coach-alex-sarama-is-going-all-in-on-cla\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">it\u2019s working<\/a>: The Fire have outperformed expectations.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>\ud83d\udc5f Toronto Tempo: <\/strong>Injuries notably decimated the Tempo this season, leaving them with an 11-29 record that isn\u2019t reflective of their potential. That said, it <em>feels<\/em> like Toronto\u2019s on track to mimic the Valks heading into year two. Much like Golden State\u2019s commitment to Veronica Burton, the Tempo seem to have found their long-term point guard in rookie Kiki Rice. Step one, complete.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"copy-container-module--small--f809b\"><em>P.S. Interested in hearing more about the Portland Fire and Toronto Tempo\u2019s inaugural seasons and our projections for their future? <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thegistsports.com\/page\/plus\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Join The GIST Plus<\/a>. Wednesday\u2019s members-only podcast episode has your name on it.<\/em><\/span><\/div>\n<p><script>\n  !function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s){if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?\n  n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;\n  n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;\n  t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window,\n  document,'script','https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/fbevents.js');\n  fbq('init', '1716705275141133'); \/\/ Insert your pixel ID here.\n  fbq('track', 'PageView');\n      <\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thegistsports.com\/article\/wnba-expansion-playbook\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The GIST: The FIBA World Cup tips off on Friday, ushering in a three-week WNBA break before the regular season resumes on September 17th. While we patiently wait for more hoops, we\u2019re honing in on the debut seasons of the Portland Fire and Toronto Tempo. The Golden State Valkyries found expansion success in 2025, making [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":260417,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6805],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-260416","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-womens"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260416","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=260416"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260416\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/260417"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=260416"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=260416"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=260416"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}