The Fire have one of the most unusual histories in the WNBA.
The original Portland Fire entered the league om 2000, played three seasons, never reached the playoffs, and ceased operations after the 2002 season. Yet the franchise produced a Rookie of the Year, developed several players who became important WNBA contributors, and finished its final season with a .500 record
Then, 24 years after the original Fire disappeared, Portland returned to the WNBA.
The new Portland Fire began play in 2026, bringing professional women’s basketball back to the Rose City under new ownership and with a new roster, coaching staff and organizational structure.
The history of the Fire is therefore really two stories: the original 2000–2002 team and the reborn Portland Fire beginning in 2026.
The Original Portland Fire
The WNBA awarded Portland an expansion franchise for the 2000 season as the league expanded from 12 to 16 teams.
The original Fire were affiliated with the Portland Trail Blazers and played their home games at the Rose Garden, now known as the Moda Center. The team was operated by the Portland Trail Blazers organization, with Paul Allen serving as chairman and owner of the Trail Blazers. At the time, WNBA teams operated under the league’s NBA ownership structure. When the WNBA reorganized its ownership system after the 2002 season, Allen declined to assume ownership of the Fire. Without an ownership group in place, the team ceased operations. The WNBA itself records that the Portland Trail Blazers organization elected not to assume ownership of the Fire in December 2002. This is an important part of the Fire story because the team’s disappearance was not the result of a championship drought or a dramatic collapse on the court. In fact, the Fire were improving when they disappeared.
Portland Fire Owners
Original Fire: 2000–2002
The principal ownership connection was:
Paul Allen / Portland Trail Blazers organization
The Fire were operated under the WNBA’s NBA-affiliated ownership model during their three seasons. Paul Allen was the chairman associated with the franchise.
After the 2002 season, the Trail Blazers organization declined to take ownership of the team, and the Fire ceased operations.
New Portland Fire: 2026–present
Portland received a new WNBA expansion franchise on September 18, 2024.
The new team is owned and operated by RAJ Sports, led by siblings Lisa Bhathal Merage and Alex Bhathal. This is a completely new ownership group and franchise operation, although the team deliberately revived the Portland Fire name and honors the history of the original club.
Home Stadiums
The original Fire had one home arena.
Rose Garden — 2000–2002
The original Portland Fire played at the Rose Garden, which opened in 1995.
The Rose Garden was later renamed the Moda Center in 2013.
The arena was therefore the home of the original Fire and is also the home of the revived Fire.
Moda Center — 2026–present
The new Portland Fire returned to the same building, now called the Moda Center.
The City of Portland lists the Moda Center as a primary home of both the Portland Trail Blazers and Portland Fire. That gives the Fire an unusual connection between generations: the same building has hosted Portland’s WNBA team in both eras.
The Three Seasons of the Original Fire.
The original Fire finished:
Season
Record
Western Conference Finish
2000
10–22
7th
2001
11–21
7th
2002
16–16
5th
The overall record was 37–59. The team never made the playoffs.
But the final season showed what the Fire might have become had the franchise continued.
The 2002 team went 16–16 and finished fifth in the Western Conference. It was the best record in the original franchise’s short history.
Unfortunately, that improvement came at exactly the wrong time.
The team folded after the season.
The Fire’s Coaches
One of the most unusual facts about the original franchise is that it had only one head coach.
Linda Hargrove — 2000–2002
Hargrove coached all three seasons and also served as general manager.
Her records were:
2000: 10–22
2001: 11–21
2002: 16–16
Her overall regular-season record was 37–59.
Although Hargrove never had the opportunity to coach the Fire into the playoffs, the 2002 season suggested that her team was finally becoming competitive.
Alex Sarama — 2026–present
The revived Portland Fire hired Alex Sarama as its first head coach.
The new Fire entered the WNBA in 2026 as an expansion team.
The organization also brought in former WNBA star Sylvia Fowles as an assistant coach, creating an interesting historical connection because Fowles is part of a new generation of WNBA legends helping establish Portland’s second-era franchise.
The Fire’s Award Winners
The original Fire had one major WNBA individual award winner.
Jackie Stiles — 2001 Rookie of the Year
Portland selected Jackie Stiles with the fourth overall pick in the 2001 WNBA Draft.
She immediately became the face of the franchise.
Stiles averaged 14.9 points per game, started all 32 games and led Portland in scoring.
She received 32 of 60 votes for Rookie of the Year, defeating Seattle’s No. 1 overall pick Lauren Jackson, who received 20 votes.
Stiles also shot 43.1 percent from three-point range, an outstanding percentage for a rookie in that era.
Other major awards
The original Fire had:
WNBA MVP: Jackie Stiles, 2001
WNBA MVP: None
Defensive Player of the Year: None
Coach of the Year: None
WNBA Finals MVP: None
Sixth Player of the Year: None
The franchise never had an MVP winner.
WNBA MVP Winners Who Played for the Fire
There is an important distinction here. No player won the WNBA MVP award while playing for the Portland Fire. The original Fire lasted only three seasons, and none of its players received the league’s regular-season MVP award. That makes Jackie Stiles’ 2001 Rookie of the Year award even more important to the franchise’s individual-award history.
The Best Portland Fire Draft
2001 — The Jackie Stiles Draft
The 2001 draft was easily the most important draft in original Fire history.
Portland selected:
1st round, No. 4 — Jackie Stiles
1st round, No. 12 — LaQuanda Barksdale
2nd round, No. 20 — Jenny Mowe
3rd round, No. 36 — Rasheeda Clark
4th round, No. 52 — Natasha Pointer
Jackie Stiles
Stiles was the home run. She won Rookie of the Year, made the All-Star team and became Portland’s leading scorer as a rookie. Unfortunately, injuries dramatically shortened her professional career. She played only 21 games in 2002 after her outstanding rookie season and ultimately appeared in only 53 WNBA games.
So the 2001 draft was simultaneously the Fire’s greatest draft success and one of its biggest “what if?” stories.
The 2000 Expansion Draft
Portland also acquired several useful players in the 1999 expansion draft.
Among the Fire’s selections were:
Alisa Burras, Sophia Witherspoon, Tari Phillips, Coquese Washington, and Jamila Wideman.
Sophia Witherspoon became an important offensive player. In 2001 she scored 12.0 points per game and made 57 three-pointers.
Portland eventually traded Tari Phillips to New York for Carolyn Young.
The 2002 Draft
The Fire selected:
No. 5 — Nikki Teasley
No. 37 — Mandy Nightingale
No. 50 — Melody Johnson
No. 53 — Monique Cardenas
Teasley was immediately traded to the Los Angeles Sparks with Sophia Witherspoon for Ukari Figgs and Gergana Slavcheva.
That was significant because Teasley eventually became an important part of the Los Angeles organization. However, the Fire never got the opportunity to see what she could become because the trade happened immediately after the draft.
Players Traded Away Before Becoming Stars
The Fire’s short existence makes this category unusual.
There isn’t a long list of future WNBA superstars who were traded away by Portland just before becoming stars.
The best example is Nikki Teasley.
Portland selected her fifth overall in 2002 and immediately traded her to Los Angeles. Teasley subsequently became an important player for the Sparks.
The Fire also traded Lynn Pride and Michele Van Gorp to Minnesota for Kristin Folkl and a draft pick in 2001.
But neither player developed into a major WNBA star after leaving Portland.
The more significant “what if” story is actually Jackie Stiles: Portland had a potential franchise star, but injuries prevented her from developing the long WNBA career that her rookie season suggested was possible.
Five Most Outstanding Players in Original Fire History
Because the original Fire existed for only three seasons, evaluating its greatest players is different from evaluating a franchise that has existed for 20 or 30 years.
These five stand out because of their production, importance to the team and subsequent WNBA careers.
1. Jackie Stiles
Portland Fire: 2001–2002
Stiles is unquestionably the most recognizable player in original Fire history.
She won Rookie of the Year and became an All-Star in her first season.
Her 2001 numbers:
14.9 PPG
2.4 RPG
1.7 APG
43.1% three-point shooting
32 starts in 32 games
Her career was unfortunately devastated by injuries.
Still, for one season she was the face of the Fire.
2. Sylvia Crawley
Portland Fire: 2000–2002
Crawley provided size, rebounding and interior scoring.
In 2001 she averaged:
9.3 PPG
6.3 RPG
1.7 APG
0.8 BPG
She started all 32 games.
Crawley remained involved in basketball long after her playing career and eventually became a college coach.
Her presence gave the early Fire a veteran frontcourt player around whom the younger roster could develop.
3. Tully Bevilaqua
Portland Fire: 2000–2002
Bevilaqua’s Portland numbers don’t fully reveal the player she eventually became.
She was a tough, defensive-minded guard who later became an important WNBA player elsewhere.
In 2001 she averaged 3.3 assists and 1.9 steals per game for Portland.
She eventually became an All-Star and one of the league’s best defensive guards.
That makes her one of the most important players to pass through the original Fire organization.
4. Kristin Folkl
Portland Fire: 2001–2002
Folkl was acquired in a trade with Minnesota before the 2001 season.
She immediately became one of Portland’s best rebounders.
In 2001 she averaged:
7.7 rebounds per game
while also contributing 5.6 points per game and 1.1 blocks.
In 2002 she continued to be a major contributor as Portland improved to 16–16.
5. Sophia Witherspoon
Portland Fire: 2000–2002
Witherspoon was one of the team’s most productive offensive players.
She averaged 12.0 points per game in 2001 and made 57 three-pointers.
Her ability to shoot from outside was particularly valuable for a team trying to establish an identity in the early WNBA.
She was later traded to the Los Angeles Sparks in the Nikki Teasley deal.
Honorable Mentions
Several other players deserve recognition:
DeMya Walker
Walker was a promising young forward who played for Portland in its first season and later became a WNBA champion with Sacramento.
Vanessa Nygaard was one of the original Fire’s veterans and later became a WNBA head coach.
Alisa Burras
Burras was a productive interior player and one of the better offensive players on the inaugural team.
Stacey Thomas
Thomas provided defense and rebounding and later had a successful WNBA career.
The Most Outstanding The strongest candidate is Jackie Stiles’ 32-point performance against the Los Angeles Sparks on July 28, 2001.
Stiles scored:
32 points
3 rebounds
4 assists
1 steal
She shot 8-for-16 from the field, 4-for-9 from three-point range and a perfect 12-for-12 from the free-throw line.
The Fire lost the game 88–83, but Stiles’ performance remains one of the outstanding individual scoring performances in the history of the original franchise.
It is especially memorable because Stiles was only a rookie.
The 2002 Fire: What Might Have Been
The final Fire season is perhaps the most frustrating part of the franchise’s history.
Portland went 16–16, its first .500 season.
The team finished fifth in the Western Conference and missed the playoffs.
The Fire had improved from:
10–22 → 11–21 → 16–16
That is a clear upward progression.
Unfortunately, Jackie Stiles’ injuries limited her to 21 games in 2002.
The team was beginning to develop just as the organization was about to disappear.
Why Did the Original Fire Disappear?
The WNBA underwent a major ownership restructuring following the 2002 season.
The league wanted individual owners to assume responsibility for franchises.
The Portland Trail Blazers organization elected not to assume ownership of the Fire.
Without a new ownership group, the Portland franchise ceased operations.
The WNBA officially recorded the Trail Blazers’ decision in December 2002.
The Fire therefore became one of the rare professional sports franchises to disappear immediately after its most successful season. They finished 16–16 and then were gone.
Portland Returns to the WNBA
On September 18, 2024, the WNBA officially awarded Portland a new expansion franchise.
The new Fire began play in 2026. The league announced that RAJ Sports, led by Lisa Bhathal Merage and Alex Bhathal, would own and operate the franchise. The new team deliberately brought back the Fire name, connecting the franchise to Portland’s original WNBA history.
The 2026 Portland Fire
The new Fire began their first season in May 2026 at Moda Center. The organization entered the league as an expansion team, meaning that the 2026 roster should not be judged against the accomplishments of the original Fire. The 2026 team was building its own history.
Among the players who emerged as important early pieces were:
Carla Leite, Bridget Carleton, Emily Engstler, Sarah Ashlee Barker, and Nyadiew Puoch.
The expansion draft gave Portland an opportunity to acquire established WNBA players while the organization also built through the college draft and other roster moves.
The New Fire’s First Draft
One of the interesting aspects of the revived franchise is that it has the opportunity to learn from the original organization’s short history.
The 2001 Fire had Jackie Stiles.
The 2026 Fire entered the league with an entirely new opportunity to identify and develop the next generation of Portland stars. Because the new franchise has only completed its first season, it is far too early to make a historical ranking of its drafts or players.
Those judgments will become more meaningful as careers develop.
Championships
Original Portland Fire
WNBA Championships: 0
Playoff appearances: 0
Conference championships: 0
New Portland Fire
WNBA Championships: 0 through 2026
The new franchise has just begun its history.
The Fire and the WNBA MVP
No Portland Fire player has won the WNBA regular-season MVP award.
That applies to both eras through the 2026 season.
The original Fire’s most important individual award was Jackie Stiles’ 2001 Rookie of the Year.
The Fire’s Most Important “What If?”
The biggest question surrounding the original Portland Fire is simple:
What would Jackie Stiles’ career have looked like if she had remained healthy?
She entered the WNBA as the fourth overall pick, immediately became an All-Star and won Rookie of the Year.
She averaged 14.9 points per game and shot 43.1 percent from three-point range.
Then injuries intervened.
She played only 21 games in 2002 and ultimately appeared in only 53 WNBA games.
Because the Fire disappeared after that season, Portland never got the opportunity to build a long-term team around her.
The Legacy of the Portland Fire
The original Portland Fire lasted only three seasons.
But its legacy is bigger than the length of its existence suggests.
The Fire produced a Rookie of the Year in Jackie Stiles, developed players such as Tully Bevilaqua and DeMya Walker who went on to important WNBA careers, and established women’s professional basketball in Portland during the league’s early years.
Most importantly, the Fire did not disappear because Portland basketball fans had rejected the team.
The team was drawing thousands of fans and its final season was its best.
Then ownership changed.
The franchise disappeared.
Twenty-four years later, Portland got another opportunity.
The new Fire now play in the same building where the original team played, although the building has gone from the Rose Garden to the Moda Center.
The ownership is different. The players are different. The coaches are different.
But the name is the same. And that makes the Portland Fire one of the most unusual stories in WNBA history: a franchise that disappeared, returned under new ownership, and brought its original identity back to the same city and the same arena.
Portland Fire at a Glance
Original franchise: 2000–2002
Revived franchise: 2026–present
Original owner/organization: Portland Trail Blazers / Paul Allen
Current owners: Lisa Bhathal Merage and Alex Bhathal through RAJ Sports
Original home: Rose Garden
Current home: Moda Center
Original coach: Linda Hargrove
Current coach: Alex Sarama
Original record: 37–59
Original playoff appearances: 0
WNBA championships: 0
WNBA MVPs: 0
Rookie of the Year winners: Jackie Stiles, 2001
Most famous original player: Jackie Stiles
Best original season: 2002, 16–16
Most notable individual performance: Jackie Stiles, 32 points vs. Los Angeles, July 28, 2001
The original Fire may have been short-lived, but their return in 2026 means the Portland Fire story is no longer a three-season footnote. It is once again an active chapter in WNBA history.
Artie Fischal
