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Posts tagged as “Toronto”

Ionescu, Plum, and Mitchell Among Stars “Cored” for 2026 WNBA

April 8, 2026

Alexa Philippou, writing for ESPN;

Ten of 15 WNBA teams have extended core qualifying offers to players since free agency started Monday.

Players who have been “cored” — akin to being given the NFL’s franchise tag — include Sabrina Ionescu, by the New York Liberty; Napheesa Collier (Minnesota Lynx); Kelsey Mitchell (Indiana Fever); Kelsey Plum, (Los Angeles Sparks); and Arike Ogunbowale (Dallas Wings).

The core designation gives a team exclusive negotiating rights to a player and comes with a baseline contract of a fully guaranteed one-year deal worth the supermax ($1.4 million in 2026), though the player can negotiate different terms.

Here’s the full list of cored players, via @alexaphilippou

  • Atlanta: Allisha Gray
  • Chicago: Ariel Atkins
  • Dallas: Arike Ogunbowale
  • Indiana: Kelsey Mitchell
  • LA: Kelsey Plum
  • Minnesota: Napheesa Collier
  • NY: Sabrina Ionescu
  • Portland: Bridget Carleton
  • Seattle: Ezi Magbegor
  • Toronto: Marina Mabrey

Full list of players selected in the 2026 WNBA Expansion Draft

April 5, 2026

The 2026 WNBA Expansion Draft took place on April 3, 2026, for the league’s two newest franchises: the Portland Fire and the Toronto Tempo. Each team selected 11 players from the unprotected lists of the existing 13 WNBA teams. Notably, both teams reached agreements with the Chicago Sky to bypass their roster in exchange for draft picks.

Portland Fire Selections
The Fire held the No. 1 overall pick and focused on a mix of versatile forwards and young international talent.

Player Position Former Team
Bridget Carleton Forward Minnesota Lynx
Carla Leite Guard Golden State Valkyries
Emily Engstler Forward Washington Mystics
Haley Jones Forward/Guard Atlanta Dream
Nika Mühl Guard Seattle Storm
Sarah Ashlee Barker Forward Los Angeles Sparks
Nyadiew Puoch Forward Connecticut Sun
Sug Sutton Guard Phoenix Mercury
Maya Caldwell Guard Atlanta Dream
Luisa Geiselsöder Center Dallas Wings
Chloe Bibby Forward Las Vegas Aces

Toronto Tempo Selections
The Tempo focused heavily on veteran leadership, shooting, and international experience for their inaugural roster.

Player Position Former Team
Julie Allemand Guard Los Angeles Sparks
Marina Mabrey Guard Connecticut Sun
Nyara Sabally Center New York Liberty
María Conde Forward Golden State Valkyries
Kristy Wallace Guard Indiana Fever
Nikolina Milić Forward Minnesota Lynx
Aaliyah Nye Guard/Forward Las Vegas Aces
Kitija Laksa Guard Dallas Wings
Maria Kliundikova Center Phoenix Mercury
Adja Kane Forward New York Liberty
Maria Vadeeva Center Los Angeles Sparks

After the expansion draft, both Portland Fire and Toronto Tempo will still get draft new player from the WNBA Draft which will be on the 13th of April. In the WNBA Draft, Toronto Tempo will be the No. 6, while the Portland Fire after choosing to pick first in the expansion draft will be No. 7.

WNBA expanding to Three New Cities; Cleveland, Detroit and Philadelphia

July 1, 2025

The WNBA will soon be expanding to 3 new cities with 3 new teams. This was announced in a news conference “WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert announces Cleveland, Detroit and Philadelphia to join the league in historic expansion.”

  • Cleveland – coming 2028
  • Detroit – coming 2029
  • Philadelphia – coming 2030

The three new teams will be in addition to the two other teams that was announced, Portland and the Toronto Tempo, both team will join the league in 2026 season of WNBA.

Warriors fell to the Raptors, powered by RJ Barrett’s 37 points game (133-118)

January 8, 2024

The Raptors gave the Warriors one of their worst loss of the season, behind RJ Barrett’s 37 points game. This is the 4th game of Barrett as a Raptor, who are 3 – 4, since trading OG Anunoby to the Knicks to get RJ Barrett, last Dec. 31st.

This is basically how the game was; the Raptors made 15 of their 33 three-points shot, lead by RJ Barrett, who made 5 of his 8 threes, despite having a great game from Klay Thompson with his 25 points, the Warriors are 14 for 46 from behind the arc with Steph is 0 of 9 from the three-point line, scoring only for 9 points. All Warriors starters are negative in the +/- column.

Aside from Barrett, Chris Boucher scored 17 points and 9 rebounds from the bench, with Pascal Siakam adding 16 points with 6 rebounds and 6 assists. The Raptors were never threaten in the game and at one point, their lead ballooned to 27 points.

Here are highlights of RJ Barrett;

Raptors will be visiting the Lakers on Tuesday night, while the Warriors will be hosting the NO Pelicans on Wednesday night.