TORONTO — The Toronto Tempo were about to take a 17-day break from playing WNBA games. It was Aug. 29, a Saturday night in Phoenix, and as losers of their last 16 of 17 games, including a 32-point loss that night, time away could be healing.
Some players, such as Nyara Sabally and Maria Conde, were gearing up for Berlin and the FIBA World Cup, others were readying for a few extra days off the court.
But as the Tempo sat together after the game and basked in yet another loss, it wasn’t about how quickly they could get away from recent disappointment. In that locker room, packing was slow.
Brittney Sykes, who is familiar with the post-loss locker room routine after 10 seasons in the WNBA, has catalogued that evening as a moment that best defines her team and their inaugural season.
“I just remember us all rallying behind each other and just giving each other encouragement and just pouring into each other’s cups,” Sykes said during her exit interview on Saturday.
When 2026 started, these players didn’t know they’d end up on the WNBA’s first international team, yet after four months together, they’d decided on the culture they wanted to have. Amid the losing record, injuries and disappointments, everyone in that room wanted to show up for each other, not hurry to get away.
“(We were) telling each other, as long as we got each other in this room, nothing else matters. As long as we’re happy with each other, nothing else matters,” Sykes said.
“We definitely made that decision in the beginning, but we reiterated it in that moment, and that stood out to me because not a lot of teams are able to do that. … I was really proud of my team.”
What were the biggest takeaways from the inaugural season? Let's take a look.
History made
The Tempo had two ways of getting into the history books in 2026. For one, the obvious list of firsts: first international franchise, first Toronto draft pick, first home game north of the border.
On the other end came the historical moments that beat out previous records, the ones that weren’t just a byproduct of becoming the first team in Canada.
The Tempo signed Marina Mabrey and Sykes to the league’s first million-dollar deals. The backcourt duo anchored the trajectory of this team and affirmed Toronto as a place overlooked talent could get new opportunities.
While Sykes was healthy, she averaged 18.6 points per game, an increase of 4.5 from her previous season, while Mabrey reached a career-high average of 20.8 points per game. In the few games they spent together on the court before injuries, this pair gave a glimpse of the demolition they could cause on both ends of the floor.
In total, Toronto helped five veterans — Temi Fagbenle (19), Isabelle Harrison (26), Sabally (29), Sykes (38) and Mabrey (53) — hit single-game career highs this season. In most cases, the Tempo helped players take their game to a new level.
That’s not to say all of Toronto’s big spending paid off; Fagbenle also got a seven-figure contract in free agency and ended up missing 19 games and her per-game scoring average dropped by 1.5 points and sank to a three-year low.
The most memorable record of the year was Mabrey’s 53-point game against the Los Angeles Sparks on June 25. With nine three-pointers, eight twos and 10 free throws, the crashout queen tied A’ja Wilson’s single-game scoring record and forced the rest of the league to take notice of the bordeaux and blue north of the border. In that game, the Tempo also set a WNBA record for the most points in a regulation win, with 125.
“The 53 tops everything. That was one of the best nights of my basketball career,” Mabrey said as she ended her final media availability of the season.
Full injury report
Laura Juskaite was the only Tempo player to play in all 44 games this season. Apart from Kia Nurse and Teonni Key, who were also available for every game, no other Toronto players could take the court with that consistency.
Injuries started early, with Harrison, Fagbenle and Sabally all missing time. To adjust, Toronto had to move guards Juskaite and Conde out of their comfort zones and into bigger positions. Then, just when that front-court core started to get healthy rookie Kiki Rice suffered an ankle ailment that cost her 16 games. Sykes also went down with a left foot injury that forced her to miss 27 games.
By the time the team was ready to return from FIBA break on Sept. 18, the Tempo had ruled out three key players for the rest of the season: Sykes, Mabrey (right adductor) and deadline acquisition Aneesah Morrow (left knee).
“At one time we never had our full group together, it was like, well, this is a what-if,” head coach Sandy Brondello said as she reflected on the season.
“What would it look like if we had Nyara and Izzy and everyone available at the same time, and Slim and Mabrey, and we could continue to grow?"
The Tempo never had the chance to answer those hypotheticals as injuries became a constant plague. In total, they lost 120 player games due to injury or illness, which ranked third in the league.
Canada is a WNBA country
The WNBA had long been considering expansion to Canada. Back in May, commissioner Cathy Engelbert spoke with media in Toronto and shared there were plans for the WNBA to play pre-season games in Toronto that dated all the way back to 2020 but were delayed because of the pandemic.
When the moment finally arrived, the Tempo never lacked support at home. All 15 Coca-Cola Coliseum games were sold out this season.
“I remember our first pre-season game. I couldn’t believe what it sounded like there,” Mabrey reflected. “All the little kids getting everyone’s jersey, getting a chance to see all of us in-person, upfront, so they can learn and be able to have that mentor they can look up to.”
On July 10, the Tempo also set an WNBA regular-season attendance record in Montreal with 20,996 fans. To have the record set in a French-speaking city, outside of the United States, by a team from a different province, was remarkable. That turnout speaks to more than just what the WNBA means to Canada; it provides a blueprint for what the league could do in the rest of the world.
“The thing that you will never forget is that you were part of this first season, this first team for Canada. It’s a special thing,” Tempo guard Julie Allemand said on Saturday.
