The WNBA will hold an expansion draft for its new franchises in Portland and Toronto on April 3, the league announced Wednesday.
A coin toss will be held Friday, with the winning franchise getting to choose either the first pick in the expansion draft or the No. 6 pick in the college draft on April 13. Whichever team doesn't get the sixth pick in the college draft will choose seventh.
The rules for the expansion draft were announced a day after the league's Board of Governors ratified the new collective bargaining agreement that was reached last week.
The expansion draft will have two rounds, with up to six picks for each team in each round. The teams will alternate picks, with the team that picks second in the first round going first in the next round.
The new teams will pick among players left unprotected by their current WNBA teams, with no more than one player per existing team getting chosen. Teams have until Sunday to submit a list of five protected players.
Teams can protect players they had rights to on the final day of the 2025 regular season.
Any player who has five or more years of service after the 2025 season must be put on the roster list as an unrestricted free agent or included on the unprotected list. Only two veteran players — Lexie Brown and Kalani Brown — had contracts that didn't expire last season..
Toronto and Portland each may only select one player who's a potential unrestricted free agent. The Tempo and Fire would then be allowed to negotiate a supermax contract with those players, which could be worth up to $1.4 million annually under the new CBA.
It's the second consecutive year that the league has held an expansion draft. Golden State entered the league last year and became the first expansion team to make the playoffs.
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FILE -WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert speaks prior to Game 1 of a WNBA basketball final playoff series between the Las Vegas Aces and the Phoenix Mercury, Oct. 3, 2025, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher), File)
NEW YORK (AP) — All but four of the passengers injured in Sunday’s deadly collision between an Air Canada plane and a fire truck have been released from the hospital, the airline said Wednesday, as crews began moving the mangled aircraft off the runaway at New York's LaGuardia Airport.
The crash, which remains under investigation, killed two pilots. Roughly 40 people were treated at area hospitals for a range of injuries, some serious. Further details on the four people who remained hospitalized were not immediately available.
The plane, which originated in Montreal, was carrying 76 people, including the crew, when it slammed into the fire truck that had driven out onto the runway. Seconds before the collision, an air traffic controller had cleared the truck to cross the runway.
Since Monday, much of the wreckage had remained on the tarmac, blocking access to one of two runways at one of the country's busiest airports.
Just before 5 p.m. on Wednesday, airport workers began towing the remnants away. Two big tow trucks working in tandem also righted the badly damaged fire truck, which had been laying on its side since the crash.
The jet’s tail end was lifted onto a large dolly, which was then towed via long tethers by two vehicles driving side by side. Earlier in the day, much of the wreckage of the nose, which was obliterated in the collision, was cut away by work crews. As it was towed, the middle of the plane was supported by its own landing gear, which appeared to be intact.
In a statement, Air Canada said the plane would be taken to a hangar. The airline said it would soon begin the process of reuniting people with baggage and personal belongings.
After the collision, many onboard managed to escape the damaged aircraft, including a flight attendant who survived after being thrown onto the tarmac while still strapped in her seat.
The two pilots have been identified as Mackenzie Gunther and Antoine Forest. At least one passenger, Clément Lelièvre, credited their “incredible reflexes” in saving his life and those of others, noting they braked extremely hard just as the plane touched down.
The two Port Authority Police Department firefighters in the truck survived.
This story has been corrected to reflect that there were 76 people aboard the plane, not 70.
Airplane enthusiast Jean-Francois Lamarche visits a memorial for Air Canada Jazz pilot Antoine Forest, who perished when his plane collided with an emergency vehicle at New York's LaGuardia Airport, in Montreal, Wednesday, March 25, 2026. (Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press via AP)
A man places a white rose on the memorial for Air Canada Jazz pilot Antoine Forest, who perished when his plane collided with an emergency vehicle at New York's LaGuardia Airport, in Montreal, Wednesday, March 25, 2026. (Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press via AP)
An airport maintenance crew moves the wreckage of an Air Canada Express jet, Wednesday, March 25, 2026, from the runway where it had collided with a Port Authority fire truck Sunday night at LaGuardia Airport, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
The wreckage of Port Authority fire truck is left on a tarmac after the wreckage of an Air Canada Express jet was moved from the runway, Wednesday, March 25, 2026, where they collided Sunday night at LaGuardia Airport, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
An Air Canada Express jet taxis past the wreckage of an Air Canada Express jet, Wednesday, March 25, 2026, as maintenance crews prepare to move the plane from the runway where it had collided with a Port Authority fire truck Sunday night at LaGuardia Airport, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
