When Harvard alum and WNBA star Temi Fagbenle ’15 speaks about basketball, she does not begin with stats or accolades. Instead, she starts with something simpler.

“Just every day, waking up, getting out of bed, that’s a win,” she said. “There are so many ways you can win in the day, and so many ways to be thankful, to be grateful.”

For Fagbenle, the newest member of one of the WNBA’s expansion teams, the Toronto Tempo, success is not defined by a single moment or milestone, but by a mindset shaped over a decade-long professional career that has spanned continents, cultures, and leagues.

While at Harvard, Fagbenle was a standout forward, getting named as a two-time All-Ivy League selection and serving as a key contributor to the program before transferring to the University of Southern California for her final collegiate season.

Since finishing her collegiate career in 2016, Fagbenle has built a vast global winning national championships in Spain, Italy, and Great Britain, as well as the 2024 EuroCup title with the London Lions, and representing Great Britain at the 2012 London Olympics

Fagbenle first joined the WNBA in 2017, winning a championship as a rookie with the Minnesota Lynx. She later returned to the league in 2024 with the Indiana Fever, with whom she averaged 9.1 points and 5.6 rebounds through the first month of the season before injuries limited her to just 22 games, half of a full season.

Fagbenle’s path to Toronto has not followed a straight line. Throughout the course of her career, she has moved between leagues, countries, and roles, building a reputation as a versatile forward with international experience and a team-first approach.

“I’ve experienced many different cultures, many different people,” Fagbenle explained. “That’s been able to shape my way of thinking and my way of approaching life, knowing that my opinion is not the only opinion out there.”

Now entering her 10th year as a professional basketball player and her fifth in the WNBA, Fagbenle is bringing her veteran experience to the Toronto Tempo. The move marks the league’s recent attempt to push into new markets, and is the league’s first team based in Canada. Fagbenle signed a one-year contract with the team in April after entering free agency.

“It’s just fantastic to be part of another expansion team,” she said. “I was in one last season. So the energy is palpable, and it’s really exciting.”

Fagbenle is currently the only Harvard alumna in the WNBA, part of a small but growing pipeline of Ivy League players reaching the professional level, including former Princeton star Kaitlyn Chen, who joined the Golden State Valkyries this season.

This time, in Toronto, her focus is on building something collectively.

“Obviously, winning is part of it, but growing mainly as a team,” she said. “We have our internal goals, and so if we achieve those, then obviously that is winning for us.”

That open perspective, she explained, has made her more patient and successful, both on and off the court.

“You have to kind of give each other grace,” she added. “It kind of grounds you and makes you a bit more patient.”

It’s an approach that carries directly into how she fits within a team.

“I’m here to do whatever the team wants me to do,” she said. “If I’m needed to score, then I’m going to put my mind to that. If I’m needed to be a defensive threat, a defensive stopper, then that’s what I’m going to do. Rebounder? I’m gonna do it.”

Fagbenle’s team-oriented approach began to take shape in Cambridge. At Harvard, she balanced the demands of Division I basketball with the rigor of Ivy League academics, a challenge that would ultimately prepare her for the discipline required at the professional level.

“Academics were always a big focus of mine, and so juggling both was difficult,” she said. “But, people do it. If I was studying, I was fully focused on that. If I was on the court, I was fully focused on that.”

That ability to stay present in both academic and athletic situations, Fagbenle explained, became foundational.

“I just tried my best to stay present in each moment and kind of give my all to what I was doing,” she said.

Still, her path forward was far from guaranteed. During her college career, Fagbenle battled patellar tendinopathy, a chronic knee condition that made playing through pain a constant challenge, casting doubt on her professional future.

“I didn’t think that it was going to be possible because of how much pain I was in,” she said.

It was only after transferring to USC in her final year of college and working with their strength and conditioning coach that her trajectory changed.

“That just transformed my life,” she said.

The shift not only allowed her to play without constant pain but also reopened the possibility of a professional career.

Beyond the game, Fagbenle’s journey is also shaped by identity. Born in the United States, raised in London, and deeply connected to her Nigerian heritage, she describes herself as shaped by all three.

“I feel American, I feel English, I feel Nigerian,” she said. “I feel very blessed to be able to call each of these places home.”

Her background, she said, shapes how she approaches both the game and the world around her.

“Instead of immediately forming an allegiance with a certain country, I kind of just take a step back and try to see the full picture,” she said.

That perspective was shaped in part by her early international experience. At 19, Fagbenle competed for Great Britain at the 2012 London Olympics after being fast-tracked to the senior national team from the under-20 level. Though Great Britain went 0-5 in group play, Fagbenle appeared in all five games and averaged 4.8 points, 4 rebounds, and 1.2 blocks per game while competing against some of the top players in the world.

“I just thought I was a baby,” she said. “But, looking back on it, I feel like I was forced to grow up a bit faster and understand what it takes to play on the next level.”

Playing alongside veteran teammates and Olympic-level competition gave Fagbenle an early look at the physicality, discipline, and preparation needed at the highest level.

“I learned a lot from my peers,” she said.

As she prepares for the upcoming WNBA season, Fagbenle is focused on getting better in every part of her game.

“Always improving,” she said. “My ball handling, my shooting, just being more aggressive, and just believing in my abilities on what I’ve worked on for all these years. Just trusting myself that I will make the right play.”

Beyond the technical aspects of the game, she strives for something deeper.

“Just continuing to have fun and find the joy in each moment,” she said. “And understand that at the end of the day, this is still a game, and it’s something to be enjoyed, and it’s a blessing to be where I am.”

That perspective, she said, is one she wishes she had embraced earlier.

“Be nicer to yourself, be kinder to yourself, but also keep the fire that you have,” she said. “Try and find the joy in each moment, because you don’t know when it’s going to be over.”

It’s a message shaped not only by her career, but by the challenges along the way, one she now hopes to pass on to others navigating similar paths.

“Don’t be afraid to reach out for help,” she advised. “Being a student-athlete is not easy. Give yourself grace. Whatever you’re dealing with, you will get through it.”

For Fagbenle, the game keeps moving, but her mindset has remained steady. As she begins this next chapter in Toronto, she joins a veteran-heavy roster that includes Marina Mabrey, Brittney Sykes, Julie Allemand, Nyara Sabally, and fellow WNBA veterans tasked with helping launch the league’s first Canadian franchise.

The Tempo begins its inaugural season on Friday night against the Washington Mystics, beginning what the organization hopes will be the foundation of a new era of women’s basketball in Canada. For Fagbenle, the focus remains the same: continue improving, stay grounded, and embrace the opportunity in front of her.

—Staff writer Tamar H. Scheinfeld can be reached at [email protected].

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