The WNBA's Toronto tempo is alive – sort of.
Set to join the league as an expansion team in 2026, the franchise revealed its nickname, logo and colors in early December.
Yet the team remains, to a large extent, an idea — one that won't be realized unless there are players.
“Oh, wouldn't it be fun? We get to talk about the game we love — early and very early, right? Now we have one name, that's another,” president Teresa Resch said in an interview with CBC Sports.
Resch added that she hopes to have a general manager in place early in the new year to lead the operations of the basketball side.
Meanwhile, Golden State is set to enter the league in 2025 — a year ahead of Toronto and expansion sister Portland — a day after Tempo revealed it selected its first group of players in the expansion draft last Friday.
The Valkyries will continue to add through free agency, which begins on February 1, and in April's entry draft, where they hold the fifth pick.
How Golden State's roster looks on May 16, the date of its home opener, should be instructive for Tempo as they embark on a similar process over the next 18 months.
Glenn Grunwald, assistant GM for the expansion Toronto Raptors in 1995, said the goal is to develop a basketball identity for tempo, then select players who fit within that structure.
He said the Raptors started preparing for the expansion draft a year ago.
“We had a simulated draft when the common entry draft was held last year. We set up our own little draft room there with our scouts and our staff, participating to make sure we had the draft pick. The momentum in terms of how we were going to operate from a player personnel perspective. ,” Grunewald said.
“And then, over the course of the next year, we ran a lot of expansion draft simulations to see what other teams were thinking.”
Resch, formerly an executive with the Raptors, likely watched the Valkyries' expansion draft very closely.
What Golden State emerged with is a roster that doesn't hold much hope for success on the court in Year 1.
Given that reality, players may be reluctant to uproot their lives for a team that seems destined for near-term failure.
See | Resch discusses how Toronto chose the Tempo nickname:
Teresa Resch says the team went through more than 10,000 submissions before coming to a decision.
Selling Toronto to players
Grunewald included selling them on first-class facilities, an excellent coaching staff and a piece of history in his pitch to incoming players.
“They'll always be the first players for Toronto Tempo. … And that's what you try and sell to the players to be part of the foundation of a great franchise. And allow them to get their input from their experience. This is a winning team and a winning franchise. It takes,” Grunewald said.
Resch's case will also feature prominently in the city of Toronto.
Seven of the Valkyries' 11 expansion-draft selections were international players.
“This team represents Canada, not just Toronto,” Resch said. “And really for the WNBA, the gateway to the world. So we really expect a lot of people from a lot of places, not just Canada, to represent the Toronto Tempo on the world stage.”
Valkyries coach Natalie Nakase said the international-heavy draft was not intentional. But with two of those players not playing in the WNBA last season, GM Ohemaa Nyanin hinted there might be some strategy.
“Our first order of business is to prove to them that they believe in our organization and that we want to establish a mutually beneficial relationship with them,” Nanin said the day after the draft.
As the first and only international NBA team, Resch also noted that “it's really important that Canada is represented well.”
“It could look like people on our business side, our basketball side or people on the court,” she said.
More options
For Grunwald's Raptors, the Canadian player pool was limited, but Resch should have plenty of options on and off the court.
The WNBA didn't release the teams' protected list, but of the four Canadian WNBAers, Kia Nurse is a free agent, while it's not hard to imagine Atlanta's Laeticia Amihere being left unprotected given her limited rookie-year role.
Coaching candidates could include longtime national team player Natalie Achonwa, who recently retired to become an assistant at the University of Michigan.
Still, Grunwald cautioned that the win should trump everyone else: “It's a perfect marketing plan.”
Golden State's philosophy seems to be patience-building, though it can always prove people wrong as the NHL's Vegas Golden Knights reached the conference finals in their first year, then captured the Stanley Cup three years later.
But Toronto can't be afforded much time, as it contends with Portland and the Valkyries in the early stages.
Then again, Toronto could have a huge advantage over Golden State early on. Most of the league will be filled with unrestricted free agents next winter.
Per Spotrac, only WNBA players under contract beyond 2025 The rookie is under contract. With a new TV rights deal through 2026 — and an expected salary-cap bump with it — the league giants appear to be biding their time for payday. Which means Toronto could see plenty of opportunities to emulate the Golden Knights and become instant winners.
Still, in the competitive landscape of the WNBA, Grunwald preached patience. His Raptors posted a 21-61 record, but are best remembered for handing one of their nine losses to Michael Jordan's 72-win Chicago Bulls.
“It's an exciting time and you're creating something new. I remember it being a lot of work, but it's a lot of fun when you build it. And let the fans be part of it and be part of the process and enjoy it when the team is built,” he said. .
“The first year might not be the most successful year, it might be. And when it's successful, you're there from day one.”
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