dpThe Toronto Tempo are in the market for a young post player.
Since the start of the season, Canada’s expansion team has been shopping a future first-round draft pick for a frontcourt standout to pair with its dynamic backcourt, according to multiple league sources who spoke anonymously because they were not authorized to discuss an unfinalized deal.
In fact, trade proposals have been sent to two teams — the Los Angeles Sparks and the Connecticut Sun — but were turned down. The Suns’ offer was made earlier in the season while Los Angeles’ offer was more recent, these sources said.
The Tempo, who are 10-16 and four games behind the Washington Mystics for the eighth and final playoff spot coming out of the All-Star break, are not necessarily making a postseason push. Injuries to frontcourt players Isabelle Harrison, Temi Fagbenle and Nyara Sabally have limited Toronto.
Because of the Tempo’s current odds for the 2027 pick, they are more likely to shop the 2028 pick — WNBA Draft lottery odds are cumulatively based on the last two seasons of teams that fail to make the playoffs, but for the Tempo and fellow expansion franchise Portland Fire, odds will be based on this year alone.
However, forfeiting the 2028 pick carries risk because of the class’s talent, namely UConn forward Sarah Strong, the 2026 Naismith Player of the Year.
The Tempo are being aggressive as the Aug. 2 trade deadline approaches in search of the right face-of-the-franchise-level post player who could be a long-term asset. They would join a nucleus that includes rookie guard Kiki Rice and veterans Marina Mabrey and Brittney Sykes. Both Mabrey and Sykes have signed multiyear deals.
The Tempo’s push for a frontcourt star goes back to free agency, when they signed restricted free agent Shakira Austin to an offer sheet with a three-year term valued at $1.19 million per year. Because Austin was restricted, the Mystics had 48 hours to match the offer and retain Austin, which they did. The Tempo can’t acquire Austin via a trade in the same calendar year because there was an offer sheet on the table.
The Sparks have one young star who fits the bill for the Tempo in third-year forward Cameron Brink, whom they drafted with the second pick in the 2024 WNBA Draft. Brink was limited in her first two seasons after tearing her left ACL during her rookie campaign. She missed the first half of the 2025 season as she recovered.
Brink is averaging 9.1 points and 4.4 rebounds this season in less than 20 minutes off the bench per game. She’s only started one game for the Sparks in 2026.
The Sun, meanwhile, have a lot of positional overlap, specifically at forward. Aaliyah Edwards, who hails from Kingston, Ontario, is an interesting target. The Mystics selected Edwards with the sixth pick in the same draft class as Brink, and she played her rookie season in Washington. She was traded to the Sun — who are playing their last season in Connecticut before relocating to Houston and rebranding as the Comets — at last year’s deadline.
Edwards is averaging 9.4 points and 3.8 rebounds in her third season in the WNBA.
