Portland Fire Leadership Shares One Major Regret As WNBA 2026 Timeline Looks Condensed

In any normal circumstances, the post-WNBA season timeline would have started a long time back. But owing to the long back-and-forth with the CBA deal, the timeline has become extremely condensed. It was only in late March that the WNBA Board of Governors approved the latest CBA. And that has led to an immediate rush afterward. 

With the WNBA schedule kicking off on May 8, a lot of important factors needed to be sorted. At the moment, the expansion draft is already done and dusted. Currently, as the free agency period is on, Portland Fire leadership has shared one regret following the rushed timeline.

Portland Fire General Manager Will Miss ‘Personal Connection’

The Portland Fire will be joining the WNBA in 2026 as part of an expansion team. And for a new team to directly come in and sort themselves out in a condensed timeline is pretty much a difficult task. Recently, the WNBA announced the free agency period, which will likely end within the next week. 

But amidst all the rush, the Portland General Manager has one particular complaint. She stressed how the rush will not allow teams to meet with players physically during free agency. This will make the signings more like a routine and have less personal touch going forward.

“That’s what I would wish for, because it is 90-plus players that are in this free agency and they deserve to have time to make those life-changing decisions. So I regret it more on their part versus our team. I know we’re going to do our job and kind of maximize the 48 hours we’re going to have in free agency,” Černivec said. 

Cernivec misses personal touch https://t.co/ZRbLagl99o

— Debmallya Chakraborty (@DebmallyaC93340) April 7, 2026

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Well, this is not the first time Cernivec is managing an expansion team in the WNBA. She previously worked with the Golden State Valkyries before taking on her recent role. But back then, things happened the normal way. 

Meanwhile, as the team is preparing to land its best possible roster, head coach Alex Sarama had an interesting take on the condensed timeline. 

Portland Fire Head Coach Unbothered By The Latest Rush

Alex Sarama has some big responsibilities to cater to this season. Not only does he need to put together a good roster, but Sarama will also need to ensure that everything happens properly despite a shrinking timeline. As of now, the WNBA Draft is on April 13. WNBA teams will begin training camps on April 19 as preparations ramp up for the 2026 season. And if that’s not enough, the Fire will have its first preseason game on April 29 at Seattle. Thankfully, for Sarama, he is enjoying the challenge. 

“I think it’s the same. I think the greatest advantage of doing, practicing in this manner is you can get a lot done in a very short amount of time because I call it, you’re cutting the fluff. We’re not going to spend a single second doing something that isn’t going to help us in five on five,” Sarama told The OregonLive.

Thus, as the WNBA means business, fans would be interested to see how things pan out next.