Former Portland Fire coach shares hard-won wisdom on building a WNBA team from scratch, offering crucial lessons for Portland's 2026 rebirth.
As the Portland Fire prepare for their long-awaited return to the WNBA in 2026, head coach Alex Sarama and general manager Vanja Černivec face a daunting reality. They have a schedule, a coaching staff, and more than 15,000 season-ticket holders, but no players.
Few understand that challenge better than Linda Hargrove.
Hargrove served as both head coach and general manager during the Fire’s original run from 2000 to 2002. In three seasons, Portland went 37-59, improving to 16-16 in its final year before the franchise folded amid league contraction.
“It’s tough being an expansion team,” Hargrove recently said in an interview. The difficulty, she explained, begins with the expansion draft itself. Teams can only select from unprotected players, which often means role players rather than stars.
“You’re getting their 8th, 9th or 10th player,” Hargrove said. “You can get good players, but not premier players.”
The draft offers limited immediate help, too. Expansion teams are not part of the lottery in their first season, making it difficult to secure elite prospects.
However, in 2000, Portland’s first-ever pick came at No. 7, where they selected Lynn Pride. It wasn’t until the following year, with the No. 4 pick, that the Fire landed Jackie Stiles, who became Rookie of the Year and a cornerstone for the franchise.
Because of those constraints, Hargrove believes free agency is critical for new teams. During Portland’s early years, the Fire added key contributors such as Sylvia Crawley, Michelle Marciniak, and Tully Bevilaqua through that route. Crawley would go on to become the franchise’s all-time leader in points, rebounds, and blocks.
Now, history is repeating itself in a different landscape. The WNBA schedule is set to tip off May 9 at the Moda Center, with high-profile visits from the New York Liberty and the Indiana Fever already circled on fans’ calendars.
But stalled collective bargaining negotiations between the league and the Women’s National Basketball Players Association, or simply the WNBPA, have delayed the expansion draft, complicating roster construction for Portland and fellow newcomer Toronto.
Unlike established teams, expansion franchises cannot rely on existing contracts. Free agents may also hesitate to sign under an expired CBA while negotiations over revenue sharing and salaries continue.
Despite the uncertainty, Portland’s enthusiasm has not wavered. The city has long supported women’s sports at a high level, and the Fire’s return comes amid record-breaking growth for the WNBA.
For Hargrove, the revival is deeply personal. She described her original three-year stint as “one of the best experiences” of her career, citing the chance to build something from the ground up and watch it evolve.
Now, as Portland embarks on its second chapter, her experience serves as both a warning and a blueprint: patience, smart drafting, and aggressive free agency are essential when starting from scratch.