Kia Nurse (centre) of the Toronto Tempo was a late addition to the Tempo roster. The three-time Canadian Olympian and eight-year WNBA vet is proud to be playing professionally in her home country.Bailey McLean/Getty Images
The Toronto Tempo will make their long-awaited debut in the Women’s National Basketball Association on Friday, ushering in a new era for women’s pro sports in Canada.
The expansion club will take on the Washington Mystics, the first real test for players who have been together less than a month.
Tempo coach Sandy Brondello said, “we’re going to have to some patience and grace,” promising there will be good moments on the court, and yikes moments too. She hopes players enjoy making history on Friday, but don’t try to do too much. While most of the Tempo players aren’t from Canada, they understand the significance to the city.
“We were all little girls at one stage. … Now these girls have this visibility of watching the best players in the world in their home country,” said Brondello. “We have a responsibility to be role models for these youngsters and that excites us.”
Century-old arena gets makeover for new era as Toronto Tempo's home court
Former WNBA pro Monica Wright Rogers feels uniquely qualified to lead expansion Tempo
'Swaggy' Brondello ready to bring her sense of style north
How did we get here?
In May, 2024, at a star-studded news conference at Toronto’s Hotel X attended by everyone from Drake to then-Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, the WNBA announced its expansion into Canada by awarding the city a franchise – the league’s first outside the United States.
The new club, owned by Kilmer Sports Ventures, would start play in the 2026 season as the WNBA’s 14th team. Kilmer’s Larry Tanenbaum made it happen, also chairman of the NBA’s board of governors and chairman emeritus of Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment, which owns the Toronto Raptors, Maple Leafs and Toronto FC. Tanenbaum’s Kilmer Sports Ventures company was created to invest in sports not already part of his portfolio, including women’s sports.
Tanenbaum hired Teresa Resch as team president. She’d served as the Raptors’ VP of basketball operations for 11 years, including during its championship season in 2019. Other owners later joined Tanenbaum in the fold, including tennis icon Serena Williams and former Raptors president Masai Ujiri.
The organization held an open call for fans to help pick the team name. After 10,000 submissions from more than 1,000 unique names, Tempo was announced as the name in December of 2024. The team said the name was “chosen to reflect the rhythm and pace of both our nation and the game of basketball.”
Brittney Sykes makes up one half of the WNBA's first-ever million-dollar backcourt, along with Marina Mabrey. The league is entering a new era with a brand-new collective bargaining agreement that allows for much more lucrative salaries.David Berding/Getty Images
Where did the players come from?
Short answer: mostly from the WNBA’s other teams, Europe and NCAA schools, all acquired during one whirlwind month.
The Tempo join the league alongside another expansion club this season, the Portland Fire. They enter in the WNBA’s monumental 30th season, as the league and its players association just agreed to a transformative new collective agreement that features big pay raises and a US$7-million salary cap for each team. While that deal was being negotiated, teams had to wait to sign players.
Once it was finalized last month, Toronto had a tight window to build the team. First, the Tempo and Fire picked unprotected players from other WNBA teams via an expansion draft. Then they added more through free agency and the college draft.
General manager Monica Wright Rogers and coach Sandy Brondello are at the controls, making the Tempo the only club in the league with former WNBA players in both those roles. Each have two WNBA titles on their résumés.
Who to watch?
The team has an interesting collection of veteran and young players from around the world. By Brondello’s own admission, the Tempo looked messy in their preseason games, while trying to build chemistry, but she expects better on Friday. Here are some players you’re likely to notice.
Marina Mabrey: Toronto took this guard in the expansion draft from the Connecticut Sun and gave her the core designation, signing the seven-year WNBA player to a two-year, US$2.4-million contract. She’s aggressive, often fiery, and known for famously shoving Caitlin Clark to the ground. Also self-aware, she later admitted she went too far that time.
Brittney Sykes: Nicknamed “Slim”, this veteran WNBA guard is the other half of Toronto’s million-dollar backcourt. She and Mabrey have known each other since high-school ball in New Jersey and are the Tempo’s leaders. Sykes is fresh off a 2025 all-star nod and likely to be a fan favourite.
Rookie guard Kiki Rice (1) will be a player to watch this season for the Tempo. She helped UCLA to a U.S. national championship earlier this year and was the sixth overall selection in this year's WNBA draft.Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press
Julie Allemand: Toronto’s first pick in the expansion draft via the Los Angeles Sparks, this Belgian guard arrived late to training camp. She was busy winning a Euroleague title with Fenerbahçe of the Turkish Women’s Basketball Super League, where she was the MVP.
Temi Fagbenle: This 6-foot-4 centre is a Nigerian-British player who played a starting role with the expansion Golden State Valkyries and brings an inside presence. She’s already raving about Toronto’s Nigerian restaurants.
Kiki Rice: If you watched women’s March Madness this year, you’ll recognize this point guard who helped UCLA to a national title. Toronto just made her its first draft pick in franchise history, at sixth overall.
Kia Nurse: The 30-year-old from nearby Hamilton and three-time Olympian is the club’s first Canadian, and she’s been a welcoming face for her new teammates arriving in Toronto, who are wondering how to get their favourite streaming apps in Canada and what are these little bugs in the air during an Ontario spring? The guard looks for a resurgence in her eighth WNBA season.
Where to see it on TV?
Friday’s game, like all of the Tempo’s games this season, will be on TSN, following Bell Media’s announcement this week of a multiyear deal with the league to broadcast Tempo and WNBA games in Canada.
Daniella Ponticelli will call Toronto’s first-ever game, a play-by-play voice Canadian viewers will recognize from other sports, including the Professional Women’s Hockey League. She’s part of an all-female broadcasting team for this game, which will also include Amy Audibert doing colour analysis and Raegan Subban as sideline reporter.
What’s the vibe inside the arena?
Coca-Cola Coliseum has more than 8,000 seats and it will be full for the team’s debut – its first of a 44-game inaugural campaign. The first preseason game last week was a sellout, with fans queuing in long lines to buy merchandise from the recognizable Tempo Bourdeaux jersey, to sweaters, hats and insulated cups.
Toronto-based artist Lu Kala will perform at halftime. The WNBA’s commissioner Cathy Engelbert is expected to attend. It promises to be a who’s who of Canadian women’s basketball players, stretching across eras.