2026 WNBA expansion draft: Predicting protected players for every team

The 2026 WNBA expansion draft is nearly here. On Friday, April 3, the league's newest teams, the Portland Fire and Toronto Tempo, will pick players to become the first athletes on their respective rosters. After an official coin toss on March 27, the Fire will select first in the expansion draft.

The Tempo will draft players second. The expansion draft will have two rounds. Portland and Toronto will select players from a designated pool of available athletes determined by the league's 13 teams.

Established teams were required to protect five players each, leaving unprotected players available for the pool. The draft will use a snake format, allowing each of the teams to make up to six picks per round for a total of 12 selections. The Fire and Tempo will alternate selections and have the right to acquire the player contract of, or negotiating rights to, one player from the available pool of unprotected players.

Portland and Toronto can only draft one impending free agent each. Here is USA TODAY Sports' prediction for who each WNBA team will protect: WNBA expansion draft protected player prediction Players listed below are listed by position and may include additional information related to their free agency status in parentheses. UFA = Unrestricted Free Agent | RFA = Restricted Free Agent | ERFA = Exclusive Rights Free Agent Atlanta Dream Predicted protected players: G Rhyne Howard (RFA), G Allisha Gray (UFA), G Te-Hina Paopao, F Naz Hillmon (RFA), F Brionna Jones (UFA) As hard as it might be to leave the current starting point guard, Jordin Canada, unprotected, Atlanta will potentially place its faith in Te-Hina Paopao.