As the WNBA regular season draws to a close and the postseason just days away the league has announced a new family member. WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert has announced that the city of Portland, Oregon will be home to the fifteenth franchise, per WNBA.com. The new team will begin play in the 2026 season along with fellow newcomer Toronto. Wednesday's announcement comes just ten months after the league said they were deferring plans to expand into Portland, per oregonlive.com.
This will be the league's second foray into the City of Roses. The Portland Fire had a short-lived run in the early days of the W from 2000-2002 and remain the only franchise to have never made the playoffs.
The new franchise will be owned by RAJ Sports who are no strangers to the sports world in the Northwest. RAJ Sports became the new owners of the Portland Thorns of the NWSL earlier this year and has investments in and business involvements with the Sacramento Kings, Stockton Kings of the G-League and the Sacramento RiverCats (MiLB). The new team will play in the Moda Center (formerly known as the Rose Garden) which is the home arena to the NBA's Portland Trailblazers.
The announcement has sent shockwaves of excitement throughout the sports world, especially in the Portland area with many fans eager to speculate on team names such as the Rosebuds, Inferno, Gladiators, and Reign.
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Potential team names aren't the only thing fans are speculating about. Fans across the country are already throwing out names of who they'd like to see play for the new northwest franchise. One name that Portland area fans are really getting excited about is one who delighted hoop heads in the Northwest for four years last decade.
Former Oregon Ducks star and current New York Liberty guard Sabrina Ionescu is at the top of the list of Portland roster dreamers. During her time playing for the University of Oregon Ionescu became a local fan favorite and continues to be a sports legend in the area on par with the likes of Bill Walton, Clyde Drexler and Damian Lillard.
Portland basketball fans quick fervor for Ionescu to return to Oregon aren't completely rooted in fantasy. According to Spotrac, Ionescu is currently playing on a two-year contract for New York and becomes an unrestricted free agent in 2026...just in time for the inaugural season of the new Portland franchise.