Until a new CBA is agreed on, the league won’t be able to hold an expansion draft for the Toronto Tempo and Portland Fire. Nevertheless, it is a fun exercise to speculate which players teams may protect and what the Tempo’s and Fire’s strategies will be. The Athletic did just that, putting together a mock expansion draft. In that article, Sabreen Merchant and Ben Pickman suggested an exciting pick for the Toronto Tempo from the Atlanta Dream’s ranks.
While it is still unclear how many players teams will be able to protect, it is reasonable to expect that the Dream won’t let Allisha Gray, Rhyne Howard, Naz Hillmon, Bri Jones, and Te-Hina Paopao go. That still leaves some veteran role players like Maya Caldwell, Nia Coffey, and Shatori Walker-Kimbrough unprotected, but the Tempo and Fire may be looking for younger talent they can develop in their system and build around.
Isobel Borlase would be a great pick for the Tempo for several reasons.
Isobel Borlase would be fun to watch on an expansion team
The Dream drafted Isobel Borlase with the 20th pick in the 2024 WNBA Draft. Instead of coming to Atlanta, Borlase stayed in Australia and continued her WNBL career that began in 2021. Borlase is in her first season with the Bendigo Spirit and averages career highs all across the board with 22 points, 5.3 rebounds, 3.6 assists, and 2.2 steals per game.
Borlase leads her team in points and assists per game—by quite a margin in the latter category. Marianna Tolo is the Spirit’s second-leading scorer, averaging ten fewer points than Borlase. The 21-year-old is also the second-leading scorer in the entire league, trailing only Mackenzie Holmes.
Borlase is the kind of young guard an expansion team like the Tempo could easily develop into a building block. Her experience as a professional only makes her a more intriguing prospect.
Moreover, Tempo head coach Sandy Brondello is already familiar with Borlase’s game. Brondello is the head coach of the Australian national team, and Borlase made her debut with the senior squad during the 2024 Paris Olympics. As one of the younger, less experienced players on the team, Borlase averaged only 6.8 minutes per game but contributed a total of 16 points in Australia’s semi-final game against Team USA and the third-place matchup against Belgium.
This year, Borlase was a key player for the Australian national team in the Asia Cup, as veterans like Ezi Magbegor, Alanna Smith, Sami Whitcomb, and Steph Talbot didn’t participate.
If Borlase is selected in the expansion draft, her WNBA debut may not have to wait much longer. An expansion team could offer her necessary developmental minutes the Dream won’t be able to if they want to compete with the top teams in the league.