Analyzing Portland Fire and Toronto Tempo Expansion Draft

The list of unprotected players is not made public. It’s all up to speculation on who, aside from these 12 players were left for the Fire and Tempo to select. Majority of these players are free agents.

Breaking Down the Picks

Portland went with a guard heavy draft to prioritize shooting and ball handling over size. A few key selections that stick out are Carleton, Carla Leite and Haley Jones.

Carleton started her career with the Connecticut Sun in 2019 after getting drafted in the 2nd round with the 21st pick. After four games, she was released and signed a seven day contract and then a rest of the season contract with the Minnesota Lynx.

Carleton quickly found a home in Minnesota where she became not only a fan favorite but a versatile scorer. Her best season came in 2024 where she averaged career highs in minutes, points, rebounds, blocks and and steals with 29.9, 9.6, 3.8, 0.3 and 1, respectively.

In 2025, she started all 44 games with averages of 6.5 points, 3.6 rebounds and 2 assists per game, all lower than 2024.

Carleton is the oldest player on the Fire at 28 years old. She brings versatility at the forward position and playoffs and championship experience under legendary head coach Cheryl Reeve.

Leite exploded for the Valkyries in her first season in the WNBA. Leite was drafted in the first round, ninth overall, to the Dallas Wings in 2024. She was picked by the Valkyries in the 2025 Expansion Draft and made her debut against the Los Angeles Sparks, recording two points in 11 minutes off the bench.

In a rematch against the Sparks, she lit up the scoreboard with 19 points off the bench and made her first career start against the Seattle Storm where she posted 14 points in the win.

She finished her rookie season with 7.2 points, 1.3 rebounds, 2 assists and 0.7 steals per game while appearing in 37 games and starting six.

Leite still has a lot of development but she is full of raw talent. Once her minutes and role started to increase and she got comfortable with the speed of the WNBA, her consistency and ability to find the open shooter and score at will showed her versatility.

Haley Jones joins the Portland Fire, bringing her emerging two-way play. (Photo: Miles Meador | The Podium Finish)

Jones’ 2025 season was a bit of a rollercoaster. She was waived by the Atlanta Dream, who drafted her sixth overall in 2023, and signed a seven day hardship contract with the Phoenix Mercury.

Around a week later, the Wings picked her up after losing Teaira McCowan and Geiselsoder to Eurobasket and a mar of injuries. She ended up signing a rest-of-season contract with the Wings due to the injuries.

Despite her hardship contract, Jones played a pivotal role in her 24 games with the Wings. She started 16 and averaged a career high in minutes with 22.8 and field goal percentage at 46.

Her career highs didn’t stop there. She averaged a career high in points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks with 8.1, 3.8, 2.5, 0.8 and 0.9, respectively.

Jones is as consistent as a player can be. She can shoot at a high clip and her passing ability helped bring some semblance of normalcy to a Wings team that struggled to share the ball. The Wings averaged 20.2 assists versus 12.8 turnovers per game, good for eight and sixth in the league.

Toronto’s first three picks are the key players who the Tempo will want to build around. The Tempo went with more size, drafting three forwards and two centers. The key picks are the guard duo of Allemand, Marina Mabrey and center Nyarra Sabally.

Allemand was drafted in the third round with the 33rd overall pick in the 2016 draft by the Indiana Fever. She didn’t make her WNBA debut until the 2020 season, affectionately known as the “Wubble Season” with Indiana.

Her rookie season is her best one to date. She averaged career highs in points, rebounds, assists, blocks, minutes, field goal and three point percentage with 8.5, 4.5, 5.8, 0.4, 45% shooting from the field and 47.8% shooting from three in 32.5 minutes. She started all 22 games.

She didn’t play in 2021 and played sparingly for the Chicago Sky in 2022.

After a three year hiatus, she returned to the WNBA last season where she appeared in 34 games and started 27. She averaged 5.4 points, 3.7 rebounds, 5 assists and 1.3 steals in 28.3 minutes per game.

Marina Mabrey will bring her talents to the Toronto Tempo with her high energy game. (Photo: Dayna Cass | The Podium Finish)

Mabrey is arguably the best player picked in the whole Expansion Draft. The journeywoman averaged double digits in points per game every season of her career with the exception of her 2019 rookie season.

Mabrey was drafted in the second round with the 19th overall pick by the Sparks in 2019. She was traded to Dallas in 2020 where she teamed up with former Notre Dame teammate, Arike Ogunbowale.

In Mabrey’s first season with the Chicago Sky in 2023, she put up a career high in points with 15 while starting all 39 games.

During the 2024 season, she was traded to the Sun. Her first, and only full, season with the Sun in 2025 showed her leadership as one of the veterans, alongside Tina Charles, on a young team with a new head coach.

Mabrey finished last season averaging 14.4 points, 4.2 rebounds and 4 assists while starting 34 of the 35 games she appeared in.

Mabrey instantly gives Sandy Brondello‘s Tempo an immediate scoring threat and veteran presence.

Sabally’s WNBA career has been nothing short of underwhelming for the prized fifth overall pick in the 2022 draft by the New York Liberty. The Liberty drafted her knowing she would sit out the 2022 season and make her debut in 2023.

She played a career high 33 games in her rookie season, averaging 2.3 points. In 2024, her injuries followed her as she only played in 26 games, averaging 4.2 points and 4 rebounds per game, in the Liberty’s championship season.

Her injuries vastly limited her 2025 season but she still put up career highs in points, rebounds, assists and blocks with 5.4, 4.5, 0.8 and 1, respectively while starting in 10 of the 17 games she appeared in.

Brondello knows how special Sabally is outside of her injuries. A reunion with Brondello and a fresh start will allow Sabally to flourish, assuming she can stay on the court.

Final Thoughts

Portland brought in more established players with WNBA experience than Toronto did. But both teams went about a different angle.

The Fire won the Expansion Draft with the length and ball handling they acquired. The Tempo went with more size and explosiveness while gambling on players who lack experience at the high level.

Both teams are not set just yet. With free agency starting and the draft coming up, the Fire and Tempo are going to try and bring in some established talent to help lead this new era of the WNBA.