The league and players’ union have a new collective bargaining agreement, pushing the WNBA offseason into a quick frenzy.
In a regular offseason, the expansion draft would have happened by now; the Golden State Valkyries made their selections for the 2025 season on Dec. 6, 2024. But the expansion draft couldn’t happen until the league and players’ union agreed to a new CBA, which happened on March 18. It has now been ratified by the players and the WNBA Board of Governors, and the long-form agreement should be signed in the next week.
So, the league announced the expansion draft for the Toronto Tempo and Portland Fire to be at 3:30 p.m. April 3. The Tempo and Fire will participate in a coin flip Friday to determine who will get the first pick in the expansion draft vs who will get the sixth pick (instead of seventh) in the collegiate draft.
Existing teams will be able to protect five players, which includes players on active contracts or those teams have the rights to in core qualification, restricted free agency, or suspended contracts. Teams will need to provide their protected lists to the league by Sunday.
Up to two players from each existing team can be picked in the expansion draft. The expansion draft will be two rounds, with Toronto and Portland making six picks per round. Once a player from an existing team’s unprotected list is selected in the first round, neither Toronto nor Portland can select from that team’s unprotected list until the second round. In all, Toronto and Portland can make up to 12 selections each, which will account for 24 selections total.
What makes this draft especially difficult for the Tempo and the Fire is that all but two veterans in the league are free agents in some shape or form. In previous expansion drafts, the expanding teams were allowed to select one unrestricted free agent that had core eligibility left, allowing that team to core the player.
The league tweaked it this year to account for the large amount of unrestricted free agents: Players who are out of core eligibility will still be able to picked by the Tempo or Fire, and the selecting team will become the only franchise able to offer them a supermax contract in 2026. So, players aren’t necessarily beholden to the selecting team, but it will be the only team able to offer them the top bill.
Here is who IndyStar projects to be the protected players for the Fever in the 2026 expansion draft:
Buy 2026 Indiana Fever tickets!
Players Fever will likely protect in WNBA expansion draft
The first two on this list, Caitlin Clark and Aliyah Boston, are obvious. The Fever’s 2023 and 2024 No. 1 draft picks are still under contract with the Fever — Boston through the 2026 season and Clark through the 2027 season — and they are cornerstones for Indiana.
Lexie Hull is going into the 2026 offseason as a restricted free agent, meaning she can talk to other teams, but Indiana has the right of first refusal and the ability to match any offer she gets. Hull has been a crucial role player for Indiana, and she has expressed interest in staying with the Fever.
Makayla Timpson got minimal minutes with the Fever in her rookie season, but she showed a lot of potential as the No. 19 pick in the 2025 draft. She is one of three players under contract with the Fever in 2026, too.
Kelsey Mitchell’s status was in flux because of the new collective bargaining agreement, which had projected changes to the core service requirement. The league and players’ union agreed to tweak the rules of the core requirement, limiting it to players with fewer than six years of service, but it doesn’t go into effect until 2027. So, the Fever will be able to core Mitchell in 2026. But they need to protect her first.
Buy Caitlin Clark merch!
Players the Fever likely won’t protect in WNBA expansion draft
Sophie Cunningham would be the most likely candidate to be on the bubble of being protected, but it does not make sense for the Fever to core both Cunningham and Mitchell. Both of them are unrestricted free agents, and the Fever only have one core spot available. Indiana would essentially waste a spot if it protected both Cunningham and Mitchell, as one of them could walk in free agency anyway. None of the other unrestricted free agents would likely be viable core or supermax candidates for the Tempo and Fire.
That leaves Chloe Bibby, a reserved free agent, and Kristy Wallace, a restricted free agent who stepped away from the 2025 season for personal reasons, as the two players available from the Fever for the Tempo or Fire to select in the expansion draft.
The Fever are in one of the strongest spots of existing teams in this expansion draft, as they can easily protect all of their main assets.
Chloe Peterson is the Indiana Fever beat reporter for IndyStar. Reach her at capeterson@gannett.com or follow her on X at @chloepeterson67. Get IndyStar’s Indiana Fever and Caitlin Clark coverage sent directly to your inbox with our Caitlin Clark Fever newsletter. Subscribe to IndyStar’s YouTube channel for Fever Insiders Live.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: WNBA sets expansion draft date, rules. What it means for Indiana Fever, projecting predictions
Reporting by Chloe Peterson, Indianapolis Star / Indianapolis Star
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
