Last season, the Golden State Valkyries outperformed expectations, making the playoffs in their first year in the WNBA after being widely projected to finish last in the preseason.
This year, the Toronto Tempo and Portland Fire are proving so far that the Valkyries’ expansion success story wasn’t a fluke. The Tempo are 6–5 to start the season, while the Fire are 6–7. Neither team is dominating the WNBA, but they are—so far—outperforming very low expectations.
Toronto and Portland are constructed differently, with the Tempo building off two established veterans while the Fire took a team with no 2025 All-Stars and mostly former role players, giving them greater roles on a new squad.
International Players
Both the Tempo and the Fire have international coaches—Toronto hired Australian Sandy Brondello after she was fired by the New York Liberty, while Portland’s Alex Sarama is British and coached in Europe before his two-year stint with the Cavaliers. And both teams also have significant international contributors.
