Kiki Rice Goes Sixth Overall to Launch Tempo Era
kiki rice arrived with the weight of a first. The Tempo took the 5-foot-11 guard sixth overall in April, and she is now preparing to help launch the franchise’s inaugural season.
For Rice, the pick carried a rare kind of permanence. She called it “an incredible opportunity that I have here to be part of the first team in Canadian basketball history on the WNBA side,” and added, “To be the Tempo's first draft pick, that's a lot of firsts that no one can ever take away from me.... I'm just excited for that responsibility.”
Rice and Toronto history
Toronto was not a blank slate for her. Rice had already been around the city’s basketball orbit, including a 2022 photo with former Raptors assistant coaches Earl Watson and Rico Hines, and she remembered the Raptors’ coaching staff and players coming to UCLA for offseason workouts during the summers after her freshman and sophomore years.
That background fit the way the Tempo evaluated her. Monica Wright Rogers recruited Rice while she was an assistant coach at Virginia and was drawn to her ability to attack downhill and her defense. Rice said she saw similarities between that path and her own choice to go to UCLA, where she became the highest-ranked recruit ever to commit and started at point guard when she arrived in Westwood.
UCLA résumé
Rice’s college record gives the pick more than symbolism. She entered UCLA as ’s No. 2 prospect in the class of 2022, helped the Bruins to back-to-back Sweet 16 appearances during her four seasons, reached the Final Four in 2025 and then won the national championship in 2026.
Her final college game was the kind of stat line that travels well to a new level: 10 points, six rebounds, five assists and three steals in the title win over South Carolina. Rice said, “There are a lot of parallels from my choice in going to UCLA, committing there, (and) helping build that program to what's gonna happen here hopefully,” before adding, “Just being comfortable sticking that through, building it out, recognizing and knowing it's a multi-year process that takes time, takes commitment. I feel like I know what it takes to get to that level.”
Draft night also framed how Toronto wants her to fit. Vince Carter and Damon Stoudamire each recorded video messages shown to Rice, a sign that the first player selected by the Tempo is being asked to become part of the franchise’s foundation from day one. For a team entering its first season, that means her role starts before the opening tip.
