The effect of spherical expansion on energy coupling to the pusher region of an ablatively driven net‐energy‐gain electron‐beam target is discussed. The effect is evaluated numerically by using the density distribution in the coronal layers, obtained from hydrodynamic calculations, in a spherical‐geometry Monte Carlo transport code. Much of the incident energy is absorbed in the low‐density blowoff or is backscattered. Net energy gain targets will therefore require higher powers, and the optimum shell thickness may be less than predicted by previous calculations, which used deposition profiles for unexpanded material. Nevertheless, energy requirements are slightly lowered due to a decrease in bremsstrahlung heating of the pusher with target expansion.