The Toronto Tempo will make history on Friday night as the first Canadian WNBA franchise when they take the court in their season opener against the Washington Mystics.
Watch the Tempo make their debut against the Mystics on Friday, May 8 at 7:30 p.m. ET/4:30 p.m. PT on TSN1/4 and streaming on TSN.ca and the TSN App.
Toronto joins amidst an expansion boom in the WNBA. Golden State debuted in 2025 with Portland also coming in this season. Cleveland (2028), Detroit (2029) and Philadelphia (2030) are scheduled to join over the next five years.
Led by general manager Monica Wright Rogers and a veteran head coach in Sandy Brondello, the Tempo have assembled a roster that has struck a balance between veteran experience and young players with upside looking to carve out a place in the league.
Here are five players expected to have a big impact on the Tempo in their inaugural season.
Marina Mabrey – Guard
Mabrey was taken in the expansion draft from the Connecticut Sun and is one of the most experienced players on the roster having played seven seasons in the WNBA.
Last season with the Sun, she averaged 14.4 points, 4.2 rebounds and 4.0 assists in 35 games.
An NCAA champion in 2018 with Notre Dame, the Belmar, N.J., native has also suited up for the Los Angeles Sparks, Dallas Wings and Chicago Sky.
The Tempo made a significant financial commitment to Mabrey, inking her to a two-year, $2.4 million max deal.
Brittney Sykes – Guard
The most experienced player on the Tempo roster, Sykes will be expected to be a significant contributor on both ends of the floor.
Sykes, who signed with Toronto as a free agent, split the 2025 season between the Washington Mystics and Seattle Storm.
With the Mystics, she was the focal point on a rebuilding team, averaging 15.4 points, 3.4 rebounds and 4.4 assists in 25 games, earning an All-Star nod for the first time in career.
Dealt to Seattle at the trade deadline, her offensive numbers took a dip with the veteran-laden Storm, as she averaged 11.8 points, 2.7 rebounds and 3.3 assists. In the playoffs, she averaged just 4.3 points in the Storm’s three games in the first round against the Las Vegas Aces.
In nine WNBA seasons, the Newark, N.J., native has also had stops with Atlanta and Los Angeles.
Like Mabrey, Toronto signed Sykes to a two-year max contract worth $2.38 million.
Temi Fagbenle – Centre
The Tempo have assembled a very guard-heavy roster for 2026, which makes centre Temi Fagbenle a unique talent on the roster.
The 33-year-old won a WNBA title in her rookie season with the Minnesota Lynx back in 2017. She spent three seasons with the Lynx before moving on to Europe.
Fagbenle spent four full seasons away from the WNBA before returning with the Indiana Fever in 2024.
Injuries limited her to just 22 games in 2024, but she made a big enough impression to be taken in the expansion draft by Golden State.
In her lone season with the Valkyries in 2025, Fagbenle had a career-best campaign, averaging 7.4 points with 4.9 rebounds in 39 games.
Fagbenle signed a one-year, $1 million contract as a free agent with Toronto on Apr. 14.
Julie Allemand – Guard
The Tempo made Julie Allemand their first pick in the expansion draft, taking her second overall.
Allemand, who hails from Liege, Belgium, has had a successful career in Europe, winning FIBA EuroBasket titles in 2023 and 2025 and has won titles playing in France, Belgium and Turkey.
The 29-year-old point guard has played just three total seasons in the WNBA. She debuted in 2020 with the Indiana Fever, where she was named to the All-Rookie Team.
She spent the 2022 season with Chicago before leaving for Europe for two seasons before returning last year with the Los Angeles Sparks, where she averaged 5.4 points, 3.7 rebounds and 5.0 assists in 34 games.
The Tempo signed Allemand to a two-year contract on Apr. 11.
Kiki Rice – Guard
With the sixth-overall selection in the 2026 WNBA Draft, the Tempo took UCLA guard Kiki Rice as its first draft pick in franchise history.
Rice is fresh off a four-year NCAA career with the Bruins, where she capped it off with a national championship as a senior this year.
In 38 games last season, she averaged 14.9 points, 5.9 rebounds and 4.3 assists and was named a third-team All-American.
Rice was one of five UCLA players to go in the first round of this year’s draft, the most from a single school in one draft year.
