Canada’s Kia Nurse highlights inaugural Tempo roster

The start of the 2026 WNBA season is Friday, May 8, and teams need to cut down their rosters to the required maximum by Thursday. The Toronto Tempo recently released their final roster for not only the start of the regular season, but the franchise’s inaugural season, and it included a familiar face in Canada native Kia Nurse, as per WNBA insider Khristina Williams.

There was never any doubt that Kia Nurse was going to be on the Tempo’s final roster for the season, but it’s significant in that she is the only player from Canada on the roster. The Tempo were denied the opportunity to have had another Canadian on the roster when the Portland Fire made Bridget Carleton the first pick in the expansion draft.

The No. 10 overall pick in the 2018 WNBA Draft, Nurse is entering her eighth season in the league. She spent last season playing for the Chicago Sky. She appeared in all 44 games, including 18 starts, at a little over 21 minutes per game.

Nurse averaged 7.2 points, 2.3 rebounds and 1.3 assists with splits of 35.4 percent shooting from the field, 38.5 percent shooting from the 3-point line and 79 percent shooting from the free-throw line.

Nurse began her WNBA career with the New York Liberty and has also played for the Phoenix Mercury, Seattle Storm and Los Angeles Sparks.

In addition to her WNBA career, Nurse is a member of the Canadian national team. She was part of the gold medal winning squads at the FIBA Women’s AmeriCup in 2015 and 2017. She’s also played in the Olympics in 2016 and 2021.

The post Canada’s Kia Nurse highlights inaugural Tempo roster appeared first on ClutchPoints.