Kiki Rice of the Toronto Tempo dribbles against Caitlin Clark of the Indiana Fever during a game last week.
Kiki Rice of the Toronto Tempo dribbles against Caitlin Clark of the Indiana Fever during a game last week.
As the Toronto Tempo returned from the FIBA break to play the final games of its inaugural WNBA season, league rookie Kiki Rice is looking back at the first campaign of her professional career.
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Selected sixth overall in the 2026 WNBA draft, Rice was quickly dubbed one of the most exciting players to watch in Toronto’s first season, and she certainly lived up to the expectations, despite injuries holding her out of some action.
The 22-year-old is averaging 13.0 points, 3.5 rebounds, 3.4 assists and over 26 minutes a game, with a 47.9 field-goal percentage and 34.8% three-point percentage.
She had a particularly impressive outing against the Seattle Storm last month, putting up 24 points in 33 minutes of action. And it’s that kind of effort she hopes to carry into her sophomore effort.
“Obviously, felt like I had a lot of growth, a lot of really good opportunity I’ve had out there, especially recently. It’s just a lot of opportunity to go out there and get better, get a lot of reps in areas that I think are going to be really good for me for the rest of my career,” Rice said. “But I think injury is a big thing. Obviously, I missed a lot of time, so that was unfortunate because I felt like I was starting to really hit hit a groove, and it took some time to get that back.
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“But I think overall, my biggest goal this year was just to learn, to soak in everything that I can and to continue to step forward in the right direction. And I think I did that.”
What does her coach think?
And head coach Sandy Brondello has liked what she’s seen from the UCLA product, too.
“She’s going to be a really good pro. That’s what sets her apart,” Brondello said earlier this season. “I’ve coached some really great players over the years, but she’s got the IQ, she’s got the size, got the physicality.
“She loves defence, she can get to the rim, pretty good three. So she has the whole package. Now it’s just about experience.”
Missing 20 regular-season games certainly limits experience, but Rice is taking the final four contests of the campaign as a chance to grow as a player, even though the Tempo are not in playoff contention, and she says the entire team shares that mindset.
“We still have more and more opportunities, from a game standpoint, to get better, and I think we really have to take those as seriously as we took the first four games of the season,” she said last week. “Any game should be an opportunity to get better. I think that’s the way we have to look at every game, whether we’re going to be in the playoffs or not. We really have to use it as an opportunity to get reps and build in the right direction.
“This is Year 1, but we want to be better Year 2 and we’re going to be better Year 2, so we don’t want to waste any time and not take advantage of these four games, that are happening against good teams that are going to help us get better.”
And looking at her game, Rice says she isn’t crunching the numbers or obsessing over the stats after every outing, but she is certainly playing close attention to of some aspects of her game.
“I always want to make sure I’m in a good place with my assist-to-turnover ratio,” she said. “I think that’s something that, as a point guard, you want to be able to take care of the ball and you want to be able to make your teammates better.”
Brondello, for her part, is certainly happy with Rice’s effort. Looking back at that sixth pick, the head coach had a clear reason for her choice, a standard Rice has, so far, lived up to.
“You know, we liked her,” Brondello said. “We thought that’s someone you could build a franchise around.”