The WNBA has an old alumnus returning to the game and celebrations are afoot. After a 24-year hiatus, Portland will return to the biggest stage in women’s basketball in 2026. Becoming the league’s 15th franchise, they will share the Moda Center arena with the NBA’s Portland Trail Blazers for their home games. But for the Trail Blazers, it is about more than just sharing a court.

As per Oregon Live, NWSL’s Portland Thorns owners, Alex Bhathal and Lisa Bhathal Merage, will pay a record $125 million to the WNBA for the new franchise. That is $10 million more than what Toronto’s WNBA team, also set for a 2026 entry, went for. “This is the latest milestone in Portland’s rich history of iconic basketball moments,” WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert said on Wednesday.

“It’s the perfect backdrop for WNBA players to make an impact.” To take Engelbert & the team owners’ vision forward, the Trail Blazers are playing an active role.

“Blazers aren’t involved in the ownership group directly, but they do control the arena,” NBA reporter Sean Highkin said on the Locked On podcast. “So they’ve been very involved in that part of it and also they’ve been behind the scenes, at the ownership level, been very supportive of wanting the team to be in Portland because they think it would be good for the city and they think they can help it be successful even if they are not owning the team.”

Though the Trail Blazers were the worst-performing Western Conference team in the 2023-24 NBA season, their experience will be of immense value for the WNBA team. Naturally, the excitement is already building for the front office contributors at the Moda Center.

Unsung heroes of the Portland Trail Blazers toast to the WNBA’s “surreal” arrival

Portland’s last WNBA franchise was named the Portland Fire, which played from 2000 to 2002. They became the only WNBA team to exit the league before making a playoff appearance, as Chairman Paul Allen underwent a financial crisis. However, they were consistently improving year-on-year and amassed a big fanbase. Now that WNBA is set to return to Oregon, the Trail Blazers management’s happiness knows no bounds.

“Since I’ve been here, it’s kind of been like a threat, ‘Oh, we might get one (WNBA team), we might get one.’ And now to actually hear that we’re actually going to get one, we’re all excited,” Director of Basketball Strategy Asjha Jones told NBA.com. “There’s a ton of WNBA players in the city. So it’s going to be great just to actually support the team, see my friends come through and play, and for everyone to actually get to see the product.”

Jones’ coworker and Scout, Tina Thompson, echoed her, saying, “Getting a WNBA team, kind of a surreal moment for the city of Portland. In my opinion, it’s incredible. The city of Portland is going to be on fire,” she added, maybe knowingly making the reference to the franchise’s older name.

With the basketball community embracing Portland’s WNBA return, the sky is the limit for the once-failed team. Will they hit the ground running? That remains to be seen.