WNBA Expansion Draft: Predicting every team's protected players - and potential top targets for the Fire and Tempo

Key Points:

• The WNBA offseason is underway with a new collective bargaining agreement, featuring an expansion draft for the Portland Fire and Toronto Tempo, who will select players from unprotected lists of existing teams.
• Each of the 13 non-expansion teams can protect five players, down from six last year, and expansion teams will pick in two rounds with restrictions on selecting multiple players from the same team in the same round.
• Key strategic considerations include managing "Potential Unrestricted Free Agents" and core player designations, impacting decisions on whether to protect star players like Breanna Stewart or leave them unprotected based on re-signing likelihood.
• Team-by-team analyses predict likely protected players and top expansion draft targets, highlighting young cost-controlled talent and veterans, with notable players such as Allisha Gray (Atlanta), Sabrina Ionescu (New York), and A’ja Wilson (Las Vegas) expected to be protected.
• Expansion teams are expected to prioritize acquiring high-potential, cost-controlled players to build competitive rosters, with several promising prospects and veterans identified as prime targets across the league.