The Idea That's Quietly Taking Over Draft Conversations
Nobody announced it. There's been no press release, no Sandy Brondello press conference moment where she laid it out on a whiteboard. But if you look at how this Tempo roster is being assembled โ really look at it โ a blueprint is emerging.
The backcourt is set. Julie Allemand runs the offence. Marina Mabrey scores. Brittney Sykes defends.
But here's the question nobody has answered yet: if those are your three guards, who starts at small forward?
The answer the front office seems to be building toward is both obvious and bold: Sykes doesn't start at the two. Sykes starts at the three.
And if that's true, everything about pick #6 changes.
What Sykes at the Wing Actually Unlocks
"Slim" has been labelled a guard her entire career because of her size. She's 5'9". She plays guard. The label stuck.
But labels are for rosters built around positions. The Tempo are being built around athletes.
Sykes at small forward is not a stretch. It is a statement. Here is what it gives Sandy Brondello:
- โข๏ฟฝ The most dangerous perimeter defence in the WNBA โ Allemand, Mabrey, and Sykes on the same defensive assignment means three players with length, anticipation, and a combined four All-Defensive selections blanketing the arc
- โข๏ฟฝ Switching everything โ when your 1, 2, and 3 can all guard any guard, the opposing point guard has nowhere to go with a ball screen. Every screen becomes a trap
- โข๏ฟฝ Transition chaos โ Sykes in the open floor at wing is not a player running a lane. She is a problem. Her speed and finishing ability in transition are elite, and at the wing she has more space to operate than she's ever had
The risk is obvious: you are now "lean." You have the most dangerous perimeter unit in the league and a frontcourt that has to do the heavy lifting alone.
Which is exactly why pick #6 cannot be a guard.
The Skyscraper Problem
Nyara Sabally is real. She is skilled and long and exactly the kind of modern big Brondello wants. But Sabally is one player, and the WNBA is full of teams with two capable frontcourt starters.
With Sykes at the wing, Toronto needs more than a capable big. They need an anchor โ a player so physically imposing at the rim that opposing teams cannot simply throw the ball inside and score every time Sykes gambles on a steal.
The 2026 draft class, as luck would have it, is top-heavy with exactly that.
The Dream: Lauren Betts (6'7" | UCLA)
Lauren Betts will not be available at #6. Write it down. Burn it. Accept it.
But the conversation has to start here because Betts represents what this franchise would look like if everything broke perfectly. She is 6'7" with elite defensive footwork, a legitimate post scoring game, and a Final Four pedigree. The combination of Betts anchoring the paint and Sykes terrorising the perimeter would be the most intimidating defensive spine in the WNBA โ not just for Year 1, but potentially for a decade.
She won't be there. But that's the ceiling. That's the vision.
The Realistic Fit: Madina Okot (6'6" | South Carolina)
This is the name to circle. Okot is the most physically imposing prospect in the class after Betts โ a 6'6" SEC-tested rebounder who was trained under one of the best coaching staffs in college basketball.
What she does for this Tempo lineup is specific and essential: she gives Sykes permission to gamble.
When Sykes knows a 6'6" shot-blocker has the paint locked down, she can take risks on the perimeter that would otherwise be suicidal. She can jump the passing lane. She can trap. She can do the things that made her a two-time steals leader โ because the safety net is at the rim.
Okot and Sabally together would also give Brondello a legitimate frontcourt rotation for the first time. That matters over a 44-game season.
The Tactical Wildcard: Awa Fam Thiam (6'4" | Spain/Valencia Basket)
Fam is the most intriguing prospect in this class because she is the hardest to project. Professionally trained in Spain since age 15, she brings a European basketball vocabulary โ high-post playmaking, pick-and-roll reads, passing out of pressure โ that most 19-year-olds simply do not have.
As a high-post hub alongside Sykes at the wing, Fam's ability to receive the ball at the elbow and immediately find cutters would make the Tempo's offence genuinely difficult to scout. When Mabrey and Sykes are flying around the arc and Fam is at the top of the key making decisions, the defence has five threats to account for simultaneously.
The ceiling is very high. The timeline is less certain. But at #6, you can afford a little patience.
The Blueprint
Here is what the Tempo are building, piece by piece:
- โข๏ฟฝ Allemand โ runs the offence, controls the pace, never panics
- โข๏ฟฝ Mabrey โ scores from anywhere, takes the big shot, franchise energy
- โข๏ฟฝ Sykes โ guards the best perimeter player, terrorises the wing, ignites transition
- โข๏ฟฝ Sabally โ modern frontcourt anchor, skill and length
- โข๏ฟฝ Pick #6 โ the skyscraper that makes Sykes's aggression consequence-free
Five athletes. Zero positional rigidity. One identity: fast, long, and relentless.
The Tea
The Tempo didn't build a guard-heavy roster by accident. They built it because guards win in the modern WNBA. But a guard-heavy roster with a true big at the five is not a limitation โ it's a weapon.
Pick #6 is not about filling a hole. It is about building the roof on a structure that is already standing.
The perimeter is set. The backcourt is elite. Now give Sandy Brondello her skyscraper โ and watch what this team becomes.