Why WNBA Expansion Teams Are Surprising the League Again

Last season, the Golden State Valkyries outperformed expectations, making the playoffs in their first year in the WNBA after being widely projected to finish last in the preseason.

This year, the Toronto Tempo and Portland Fire are proving so far that the Valkyries’ expansion success story wasn’t a fluke. The Tempo are 6–5 to start the season, while the Fire are 6–7. Neither team is dominating the WNBA, but they are—so far—outperforming very low expectations.

Toronto and Portland are constructed differently, with the Tempo building off two established veterans while the Fire took a team with no 2025 All-Stars and mostly former role players, giving them greater roles on a new squad. 

International Players

Both the Tempo and the Fire have international coaches—Toronto hired Australian Sandy Brondello after she was fired by the New York Liberty, while Portland’s Alex Sarama is British and coached in Europe before his two-year stint with the Cavaliers. And both teams also have significant international contributors.

The Fire’s leading scorer is France’s Carla Leite, who was a 2024 draft-and-stash by the Wings before she was taken by the Valkyries in their 2025 expansion draft. In 2026, the Fire selected her in their expansion draft, and so far, she’s started in all but one game for them, and her scoring average nearly doubled from last year.

Portland has also seen contributions from Australia’s Nyadiew Puoch and Germany’s Luisa Geiselsoder, both who have started nine or more games. Pouch was a Dream 2024 draftee making her league debut this season, while Geiselsoder was drafted in 2020 but was waived and mostly played overseas before coming to Portland.

The Tempo also have international staples of their own. Two of them are Spain’s Maria Conde and Lithuania’s Laura Juškaitė, who average seven and eight points per game, respectively. Both players are considered rookies, but are in their late twenties and played overseas for several years.

Brondello, as well as Indiana Fever head coach Stephanie White, believe expansion is creating chances for international players who wouldn’t have been in the league otherwise.

“The amount of internationals that we have—more and more are coming now,”  Brondello said in response to a question from Front Office Sports, before the Tempo’s May 26 game. “Obviously, there’s more money to be earned. But there’s more opportunities. I think the expansion is helping our league. It’s good that teams are competitive.”

Tempo’s Win-Now Moves

The Tempo’s early success was less surprising than their Portland counterparts. Their offseason moves signalled a desire to immediately compete, starting with hiring Brondello, a WNBA champion coach who has had two losing seasons in the last eight years. 

They signed international players with deep EuroLeague résumés that are older than typical WNBA rookies: María Conde (29), Laura Juškaitė (28), and Tima Pouye (27).

But they also benefited from the new CBA another way. The negotiations led to a chaotic free agency with more than 100 unsigned players—including 2025 All-Star Brittney Sykes. The Tempo signed Sykes on a seven-figure deal.

Toronto was able to lure Sykes after drafting Marina Mabrey in the expansion draft. Mabrey and Sykes are longtime friends who also share the same agent.

While neither have led teams to deep playoff runs, they are two established talents rarely seen on expansion franchises. Both are having career seasons and are early All-Star candidates.

Brondello said the increased roles allow players on expansion teams to shine.

“They’re professionals,” Brondello said. “I don’t think there’s a chip [on their shoulder.] They just want another opportunity to continue to grow their game.”

Bigger Roles

Many of the Fire’s roster are playing larger roles than they’ve ever played before. 

Leite is one example, starting just six games with Golden State last year before leading Portland’s team. Bridget Carleton was the Fire’s first overall pick in the expansion draft—though she was a starter for the Minnesota Lynx in 2025, she never averaged double figures in her career before tallying 13.3 points per game this season.

Megan Gustafson, a former role player across four different teams, is also in double figures for the first time this season and scored 22 points in a win against the Fever. After that game, she called Portland “a bunch of overlooked players,” and that she had “never really been respected” before coming to the expansion team.

Second-year player Sarah Ashlee Barker rounds out the of Portland players having career-best seasons, as her average leaped by seven points from her rookie year with the Los Angeles Sparks.