By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
On Sunday, Cooper High School graduate Lexi Held will be among the basketball players reporting for preseason practice with the Toronto Tempo, one of two new franchises in the WNBA this season.
Held, 27, signed a training camp contract with the Tempo last week after being selected in an expansion draft of current WNBA players. The 5-foot-10 guard made her debut in the league last season with the Phoenix Mercury team that was runner-up in the playoffs.
“Known for her shooting ability and offensive versatility, Held brings perimeter scoring and backcourt depth to training camp,” according to a Toronto Tempo media release.
Last season, Held averaged 5.3 points, 1.1 rebounds and 1.1 assists off the bench for Phoenix. The undrafted rookie was a double-figure scorer in five of the first seven games. In one of them, she netted 24 points, the most by a rookie at that point in the 2025 season.
On June 19, Held was averaging 8.7 points, 1.7 rebounds and 1.4 assists when she suffered a partially collapsed lung after colliding with another player during an away game against the New York Liberty.
That put her rookie season on hold for five weeks during a painstaking recovery. She returned to play in 18 games during the final three months, averaging 2.6 points, 0.5 rebounds and 0.8 assists during her comeback.
If she makes the roster for the Tempo, Held will be playing for the first WNBA franchise located outside of the United States. The new team has preseason games scheduled on April 29 and May 1 with the season-opener on May 8 at home.
A 2018 graduate of Cooper, Held scored more than 2,430 points during her varsity career and finished her senior season with the state’s second highest scoring average at 28.3 points per game.
She was recruited by DePaul University in Chicago, where she started in 89 consecutive games over three seasons. The Blue Demons compiled a 64-25 record with her in the lineup.
Held started her pro basketball career playing for women’s teams in Australia, Hungary, Italy, Poland and Sweden before landing a WNBA contract with Phoenix last spring.
During the WNBA expansion draft on April 5, Held was selected from the unprotected players list provided by existing teams to establish rosters for the Toronto Tempo and Portland Fire franchises that are being added to the league.
WNBA players also ratified a new collective bargaining agreement during the off-season. Minimum salaries will range from $270,000 to $300,000 for the 2026 season.