Basketball legend Sylvia Fowles thought she had closed her book on the WNBA in 2022. Instead, three years later, she’s opening an entirely new chapter with a team rising from the ashes: the Portland Fire.

On Monday, the expansion team announced that the 2025 Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductee will join the franchise as an assistant coach, alongside Brittni Donaldson, under Head Coach Alex Sarama, ahead of its 2026 debut. And for Fowles, her return to the court isn’t about nostalgia; it’s about purpose.

“Returning to the league that shaped me, now as an assistant coach with the Portland Fire, is truly special,” Fowles said as per a press release by the team. “When I retired, my hope was for a brighter, more powerful future for this league and its players. Now, I get to help turn that vision into a reality in Portland.”

After hanging her jersey as the WNBA’s all-time leading rebounder, Fowles intentionally stepped away from the game. She turned down coaching opportunities, including invitations from Minnesota Lynx head coach Cheryl Reeve, to spend time decompressing and understanding what a role like coaching truly required. But that changed during her Hall of Fame induction year, where her conversations with Reeve, Lindsay Whalen, Sandy Brondello, Sonia Raman, and others helped her feel prepared for this role.

And for a player who is looking to start her career as a coach, the Portland Fire is the perfect place. With no roster yet to lean on, and expectations still being formed, Sylvia Fowles gets to do what she wanted: “start from scratch,” and coach Sarama, who comes from experience in the European basketball development system, is all for it.

Sarama plans to implement a Constraints-Led Approach (CLA), a player-development model that hasn’t been widely used in the WNBA or the NBA, but is popular in Europe, and that’s where Fowles’ presence becomes critical, as Sarama lacks experience in the Women’s game.

“Sylvia is a legend of the game,” Sarama said. “Her experience, leadership, and understanding of the league will be critical as we continue to build the identity of this team and design our principles of play. Sylvia sets an elite standard, has a deep connection to this league, and brings a player-first perspective that will elevate everyone in our program.”

For a first-time WNBA head coach starting from scratch and a franchise returning after more than 20 years away, Sylvia Fowles is the rare fit that just makes sense for everyone.

Why Sylvia Fowles is the perfect fit for the Portland Fire?

Long before Sylvia Fowles ever thought about drawing up scouting reports, she was redefining dominance in the paint. Drafted second overall by the Chicago Sky in 2008, Fowles immediately became an elite rim protector with soft touch, relentless rebounding instincts, and a physical presence the league simply wasn’t built to handle.

In her fourth year in the WNBA, she was honored as the Defensive Player of the Year and an All-Star regular.

However, her career reached historic heights after a midseason trade to the Minnesota Lynx in 2015. As a veteran player now, she pushed the franchise to championships in 2015 and 2017, where she earned Finals MVP honors both times. In 2020, she passed Rebekkah Brunson to become the WNBA’s all-time leading rebounder, and by the time she retired, Fowles had her name etched into the league’s Top 25 Players list.

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But given her resume, Sylvia Fowles could have stepped onto almost any established WNBA team. Instead, she chose the expansion Portland Fire, and according to her interview with Yahoo Sports, that was the point.

“The beauty of it was, it was more scary for me to choose Portland, which made me come to Portland. Because I’m like, if I’m afraid of it, I think I want to experience it,” she said.

The original Portland Fire existed from 2000 to 2002, but they had to wrap up after three seasons without a playoff appearance due largely to financial instability tied to the Trail Blazers’ ownership struggles. They remain the only WNBA franchise to fold without ever reaching the postseason. But this version of the Fire is different, new ownership, a new vision, and a league experiencing unprecedented growth, which makes it the best place for Sylvia Fowles to “get (her) feet wet.”

As the Portland Fire and Toronto Tempo prepare to enter the league together, both expansion teams are expected to participate in an expansion draft ahead of the 2026 WNBA season. However, that timeline remains unclear, with league business on pause as the WNBA and the WNBPA continue negotiations on a new collective bargaining agreement. But with the players’ union recently authorizing the possibility of a strike, the league’s immediate future remains unsettled.