# Can Portland and Toronto Find Success in Year One? Plus, More Big Questions for Teams in Rebuild Mode Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/no-offseason-the-athletic-women-s-basketball-show-6528302/can-portland-and-toronto-find-success-in-year-one-plus-more-big-questions-for-teams-in-rebuild-mode Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/no-offseason-the-athletic-women-s-basketball-show-6528302/can-portland-and-toronto-find-success-in-year-one-plus-more-big-questions-for-teams-in-rebuild-mode.md Podcast: [No Offseason: The Athletic Women's Basketball Show](https://stenobird.com/podcast/no-offseason-the-athletic-women-s-basketball-show-6528302) Published: 2026-04-30T10:00:00+00:00 Episode link: https://shows.acast.com/no-offseason-the-athletic-womens-basketball-show/episodes/can-portland-and-toronto-find-success-in-year-one-plus-more Audio file: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/6818a0d4eb737caf8ca3e31e/e/69f2bf00c2d898b28be7f5b3/media.mp3 Processing state: not_requested JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/no-offseason-the-athletic-women-s-basketball-show-6528302/episodes/can-portland-and-toronto-find-success-in-year-one-plus-more-big-questions-for-teams-in-rebuild-mode Duration seconds: 2826 ## Resource Layshia and Annie talk through WNBA teams that are in build mode. From finding the right mix of rookies and vets to handling expansion challenges, they look at how Portland, Toronto, Washington, Connecticut, and Seattle are figuring out who they are in the 2026 season. Plus, they get into coaching, team strategies, what success looks like, and why some teams have the potential to surprise sooner than expected. Plus — our take on the NCAA’s push to expand the tournament. REFERENCES:  NCAA basketball tournaments closing in on 76-team March Madness starting in 2027: Sources by Ralph D. Russo __ No Offseason is a part of The Athletic Podcast Network Email us: NoOffseason@theathletic.com Sign up for the No Offseason newsletter! YT:  @No-Offseason  IG: @tanooffseason TikTok: @no_offseason Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. ## Actions - request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/no-offseason-the-athletic-women-s-basketball-show-6528302/episodes/can-portland-and-toronto-find-success-in-year-one-plus-more-big-questions-for-teams-in-rebuild-mode/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode. - read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/no-offseason-the-athletic-women-s-basketball-show-6528302/can-portland-and-toronto-find-success-in-year-one-plus-more-big-questions-for-teams-in-rebuild-mode.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource. A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed. ## Transcript Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.