There were a lot of firsts this year for the Toronto Tempo.
First season, of course, which comes with firsts like an inaugural game, a first signing, first All-Star appearance. For their first head coach, two-time WNBA champion Sandy Brondello, it’ll also be the first season in over a decade as head coach that her team doesn’t make the playoffs.
It’s all part of the process, Brondello has preached over and over since the Tempo were mathematically eliminated from playoff contention weeks ago. Still, the process will evidently be rocky, as the Tempo experienced on Sunday during their final home game of the year – Fan Appreciation Night.
“We’ve had so many great fan moments, and they’re loud regardless,” Brondello said before Sunday’s tipoff versus the New York Liberty. “We’re not playing really well, but they’re still loud.”
Toronto – missing stars Brittney Sykes and Marina Mabrey, as well as Aneesah Morrow down the stretch due to injury – have been playing mainly with their reserves. While this has allowed players like All-Rookie candidate Kiki Rice and the Lithuanian phenom Laura Juskaite to shine, it’s also made the gaps in their roster very visible.
Since the beginning of the season, the team’s frontcourt has been thin – more noticeable against a team like the Liberty. Their All-Star, MVP-winning frontcourt duo, Jonquel Jones and Breanna Stewart, are some of the best players in the league. The Tempo just don’t have the size in their current form to keep up.
“Obviously one of my favourite players to ever coach,” Brondello said about Stewart, who she coached for four years in New York. “People have to see the work that she puts in to see her greatness, and a lot of the work is unseen.”
Stewart scored 27 points, eight rebounds, four assists, two steals and one block in the Liberty’s dominant 106-69 win in Toronto Sunday afternoon. While the Liberty sit in sixth place in the WNBA standings, jockeying for positioning for the first round of the playoffs, that lower seed does not reflect the level of playoff experience and power this team has.
The Tempo, in comparison, are years behind in development. Again, it all comes back to the process.
There will be time as the season comes to an official end later this week to dive into the discrepancies of the current roster, changes to make, and how to evolve next year, but Brondello’s message to her team this week is to “finish strong.”
“I think we’re very intentional about what kind of players we want to bring in and their character,” Brondello said after the loss. “What we do is hard. So if you can’t embrace hard, I mean, you probably shouldn’t be in this league.”
“There were only a few games where I was a little disappointed with our effort, and this is one of them in the second half,” Brondello continued. “Overall, I think their resiliency, their togetherness, has been commendable, and that’s all you can ask for in a season with so much adversity.”
While Sunday’s game was their final in Toronto this year, they will now hit the road to play their final two games. Tuesday in Chicago, and then Thursday for the Connecticut Sun’s final game before moving to Houston.
That game not only has emotional implications on both sides, but also has a ton of implications for the 2027 WNBA Draft Lottery odds. If Toronto loses their final two games, they will tie the Sun for the top odds to get the No. 1 pick in the 2027 WNBA Draft.
Stakes are still high, even if the Tempo aren’t playing in the playoffs yet.
