A tough loss at the worst time
Canada's national women's basketball team is sitting out the FIBA Women's World Cup this year after being eliminated from contention, and the timing could not have been rougher. The loss came courtesy of Australia, coached by Sandy Brondello, who happens to be the head coach of the Toronto Tempo, Canada's brand new WNBA franchise.
Just three days after that elimination, the WNBA and its players' union reached a new collective bargaining agreement, one that officially locks in the Tempo's inaugural season in Toronto. So Canadian basketball fans got a genuine milestone (a home WNBA team) and a genuine setback (no national team at the World Cup) almost back to back.
What it means for the program
Missing a World Cup is never good news for a national program's momentum, funding, or visibility. Tournaments like this are where players get seen by scouts, sponsors take notice, and young fans start picking favourites. Sitting it out means Canada loses a full cycle of that exposure at a moment when women's basketball in this country is arguably more popular than ever, thanks in large part to the WNBA's expansion north of the border.
But there is a case for reading this differently. With the Tempo set to begin play, Canada's basketball ecosystem is about to get a permanent, high-profile showcase that did not exist before. Players who might have been leaning on international tournaments to build their profile now have a full WNBA season, played on Canadian soil, to do it instead.
A reset with the 2028 Olympics in view
That is where the LA28 angle comes in. The next Olympic cycle is still a few years out, and a World Cup miss now does not close the door on qualifying for the Games. If anything, having a WNBA team based in Toronto gives Canada Basketball a new pipeline: a place for national team calibre players to train, compete at a high level, and stay sharp against pros, without needing to leave the country.
The federation will still have real work to do. A cruel qualifying loss does not fix itself, and there will be questions about roster depth, coaching, and development heading into the next set of qualifiers. But the arrival of the Tempo changes the conversation from purely "how do we recover from this" to "how do we use this new resource to make sure it doesn't happen again."
For now, Canadian fans will be cheering on other countries at this year's World Cup while keeping one eye on Toronto, where the real building for the next Olympic run may already be underway.
Source: CBC Sports
