The Portland Fire have hired Alex Sarama, an assistant with the Cleveland Cavaliers, as the first coach in franchise history.
“Alex represents the next generation of coaching,” Fire general manager Vanja Černivec said in a statement on Friday. “He’s not just teaching the game, he’s transforming it. His approach to player development, grounded in evidence-based science, research and creativity, aligns with our vision to make Portland a global hub for innovation in women’s sports.”
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He is the organization’s second major hire in recent days, joining former WNBA veteran and Maine Celtics assistant general manager Ashley Battle, who will be the Fire’s vice president of basketball operations, strategy and innovation. Both hires were made by Černivec. The Fire are scheduled to begin their inaugural WNBA season in May 2026.
Sarama brings a similar global perspective to the game as Černivec. The English-born Sarama worked in basketball operations for NBA Europe in Madrid, where he overlapped with Černivec. He had roles in coaching and player development in Belgium, Italy, and France, as well as working as the director of methodology for the London Lions in 2023-24 when Černivec was the general manager. The club became the first British team to win the EuroCup championship that season.
“The opportunity to build something from the ground up is unique,” Sarama said in a release. “At the Fire, we’re not just creating a team – we’re redefining how the game is taught and played, through an approach centered around adaptability and supported by evidence-informed methodologies. We want to create a new standard for the game.”
Sarama has some familiarity with the Portland market after a season as an assistant coach for the NBA G League team, the Rip City Remix. He left Portland to become the director of player development for the Cleveland Cavaliers and was recently promoted to assistant coach. Sarama is the latest in a line of WNBA head coaches to have spent time on an NBA bench, joining 2025 finalists Becky Hammon and Nate Tibbetts, as well as 2025 Coach of the Year Natalie Nakase, who also took over an expansion team in the Golden State Valkyries.
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Sarama is the author of the book “Transforming Basketball” about the theory and implementation of the constraints-led approach, or CLA. It’s a learning method that has made its way into basketball coaching circles and has a disciple in WNBA star Kelsey Plum. The Cavaliers adopted the practice, which eschews the concept of muscle memory and instead introduces unpredictable training environments, en route to a 64-win season in 2024-25, the second-most wins in franchise history.
The Fire have had an uneven launch into the WNBA. Their original bid to become the WNBA’s 14th franchise fell through before Lisa Bhathal Merage and Alex Bhathal came aboard, delaying their entry into the league by one year. Their first hire, team president Inky Son, was fired three months later. Even Sarama’s hire was prematurely revealed on LinkedIn. But the Portland franchise now has its front-office core in place ahead of what figures to be a tumultuous offseason league-wide.
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
Cleveland Cavaliers, NBA, WNBA
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