The Toronto Tempo have temporarily suspended Julie Allemand’s contract so the veteran guard can join the Belgian national team ahead of the FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup in Berlin, Germany.

The move is not a punishment or a sign of a new injury.

Toronto is allowing Allemand to leave the team early for international duty before the WNBA takes its official World Cup break. That kind of contract suspension is used when international players leave their WNBA teams before the league-wide pause.

Women's basketball account AllThingsWNBA reported the news on X. Tempo beat reporter Chelsea Leite of TSN Sports also reported Tuesday that Allemand had already left Toronto to join Belgium.

The timing is important because the WNBA's official World Cup break does not begin until August 31.

However, because Allemand departed more than a week before the break begins, she will miss the Tempo’s final three games leading into the pause.

She is ruled out for matchups against the Seattle Storm on Wednesday at Climate Pledge Arena, the Las Vegas Aces on Friday, and the Phoenix Mercury on Saturday.

The FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup runs from September 4 to 13. Allemand is expected to rejoin Toronto on September 18 against the Indiana Fever.

Before leaving, the Belgian player started 27 of her 29 appearances this season for Toronto. She was averaging 6.3 points, 3.1 rebounds, 5.6 assists, 1.4 steals, and 1.2 three-pointers in 28.7 minutes per game.

The suspension leaves an already thin Tempo roster even thinner

Toronto is coming off an 88-78 loss to the Aces on Sunday, its eighth defeat in nine games this August.

With that, they dropped to 11-26, sitting 13th in the WNBA standings in their inaugural season, and they were eliminated from playoff contention weeks ago.

The team has already been dealing with a wave of injuries to Brittney Sykes (foot), Aneesah Morrow (knee), Marina Mabrey (adductor), Maria Conde (calf), and Nyara Sabally (calf).

With the active roster falling below league requirements, the Tempo were forced to sign guard Kiana Williams to a seven-day extreme hardship contract.

Losing Allemand for three games would be a problem for any team. For this version of the Tempo, it's a gut punch.

Williams, though, brings depth and experience to the depleted backcourt.

The 27-year-old guard, originally selected by the Seattle Storm in the second round of the 2021 WNBA Draft, has appeared in 59 career regular-season games.

This season, Williams played eight games with the Phoenix Mercury, averaging 4.8 points, before signing with the Los Angeles Sparks on June 19.

During her 13-game stint in Los Angeles, she averaged 3.2 points and 1.6 assists in 11.2 minutes per contest before being waived on August 15.

Written by

Md Saife Fida