2026 WNBA expansion draft: Predicting each team's 5 protections

Next Friday's 2026 WNBA expansion draft will send new players to the incoming Toronto Tempo and Portland Fire. The draft order is set, and existing WNBA teams can now protect up to five players ahead of time. How will the draft work?

In essence, the Fire will draft first and the Tempo will draft second in a snake-style draft, picking from the available pool of unprotected players. The new teams can choose from any unprotected players on any WNBA roster but can only draft one impending free agent each. That means the Tempo and Fire will largely choose from players who are rostered on rookie deals or are restricted free agents or exclusive rights free agents.

Who will the various teams in the WNBA protect? We've gone through and predicted the five protections for each team ahead of next week's big expansion draft. Atlanta Dream Expected Protections: G Jordin Canada (UFA), G Allisha Gray (UFA), G Rhyne Howard (RFA), G Te-Hina Paopao (rostered), F Naz Hillmon (RFA) The Dream can't afford to leave free agents like Gray and Canada available in the expansion draft, so they both get protections along with non-UFA keeps like Howard, Hillmon and Paopao.

Chicago Sky Expected protections: C Kamilla Cardoso (rostered), F Angel Reese (rostered), G Hailey Van Lith (rostered), F Maddy Westbeld (rostered), G Sevgi Uzun (ERFA) Chicago's protections aren't a shock; they keep all five of their non-unrestricted players around for 2026 (for now). Connecticut Sun Expected protections: G Marina Mabrey (UFA), F Aaliyah Edwards (rostered), F Aneesah Morrow (rostered), G Saniya Rivers (rostered), G Leila Lacan (rostered) The Sun are an interesting team to watch. Whether or not they protect Mabrey will be the key, as we're just not sure if the team would prioritize making her exempt in the hope of signing her to an extension.