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The WNBA’s newest expansion team, the Toronto Tempo, is hiring former WNBA player Monica Wright Rogers as general manager, according to ESPN’s Alexa Philippou and Shams Charania.
Rogers previously served as the Phoenix Mercury’s assistant general manager under general manager Jim Pitman and later Nick U’Ren.
As a player, Wright was a two-time WNBA champion and spent seven seasons in the league with the Minnesota Lynx (2010-15) and Seattle Storm (2016), averaging 7.3 points and 2.2 rebounds per game.
Following her playing career she served as the women’s basketball director of student-athlete development at Incarnate Word (2017-18), an assistant coach at both Liberty (2018-19) and Virginia (2019-21) and was the Elite Basketball Women’s operations lead for the NBA’s league office before taking the assistant general manager’s position in Phoenix.
As for the Tempo, the expansion team is the WNBA’s 14th franchise and will begin play in the 2026 season. The team announced its name in December.
“Tempo is pace. It’s speed. It’s a heartbeat. And it’s what you feel when you step into the streets of this city, and in the energy of the people who call Canada home,” team president Teresa Resch said in a press release. “As Canada’s WNBA team, I know the Tempo will set our own pace, move at a championship cadence, and inspire people across this country.”
Wright, meanwhile, will be tasked with an important first decision—naming a head coach. She’ll also guide the Tempo through its first rookie draft and the expansion draft.
