The Portland Fire made a bold start to its 2026 recruitment with the addition of Alex Sarama as Head coach. The 30-year-old coach is famous for his innovative training system – CLA (constraints-led approach) will bring in different aspects to the WNBA and put the league on another level.
As soon as the Portland Fire made an announcement of Sarama as its HC, the Cleveland Cavaliers HC started life after his number 2. But he went ahead and praised his assistant coach for his impact on the team.
Kenny Atkinson Praises Alex Sarama
The WNBA expansion and popularity are forcing the franchise to find new ways to stay on top of the league in terms of strategies, players, and its staff. The NBA’s coaching staffs provided the WNBA league with many options for coaches and development staff, which brought in innovative ways and techniques to the ‘W’.
New addition to the league, Portland Fire, also chose an assistant coach from the NBA, Alex Sarama, as its head coach. He is currently working with Kenny Atkinson at the Cleveland Cavaliers and will join the Portland side in 2026. Atkinson congratulated his assistant on his new job and had a few nice words for him.
“It’s a little bit the price of success. People are gonna look to hire people from your staff, and for Alex, it’s a great opportunity. He will stay the season with us. It’s not like he’s leaving tomorrow, so that was kind of the agreement with that. But we’re gonna miss him. He’s added a lot to the group. Again, I think we came to that agreement where we didn’t want to mess with what we’ve got and all we prepared and all that,” Atkinson said.
The Portland Fire have hired Alex Sarama, an assistant with the Cleveland Cavaliers, as the WNBA expansion franchise's inaugural head coach, the team and Sarama told @ramonashelburne.
— espnW (@espnW) October 17, 2025
(📸: @AlexJSarama) pic.twitter.com/9IHpMCt2aV
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Atkinson added that Sarama challenges traditional thinking and implemented a science-based kind of teaching, which helped the players to improve their skills and deliver on the floor. While the league is growing globally, which is taking away the NBA’s talented staff, Atkinson is happy for his peers.
Sarana will join the WNBA team once the operations of the franchise get underway. The CBA deal is yet to reach its conclusion, which is affecting the WNBA expansion draft, which is scheduled in November. Luckily, Sarama has strong support in the basketball operations department.
Alex Sarama To Get Supportive Team Management At Portland
The Portland Fire also made another shrewd acquisition, adding Ashley Bathle as its Vice President of Basketball Operations, who has worked closely with the Boston Celtics in recruitment and player development. The GM was happy with both additions and said that Battle’s multi-dimensional experience will allow her to help the Portland Fire build a modern, holistic women’s basketball organization.
Like Sarama, she also won multiple accolades in her career, which will help the expansion team build a winning culture right from its inaugural season. The Portland side is making its return to the ‘w’ after a long wait, and now wants to get its season underway on a positive note.
While the Portland Fire is making moves in the league, the Toronto Tempo is targeting Sandy Brondello as their HC, which could also be a bold move, countering many other franchises with one recruitment. It will be interesting to watch how these two expansion teams fare in the upcoming season.