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The return of the Portland Fire to the WNBA in 2026 will also signal the return of a storied rivalry to professional basketball.
It’s been 18 years since the SuperSonics were moved from Seattle to become the Oklahoma City Thunder, and the rivalry between Portland and Seattle has lived solely on the soccer pitch ever since (carried by the Timbers/Sounders and the Thorns/Reign).
But in 2026, the Portland Fire and the Seattle Storm will play again for the first time since Aug. 9, 2002.
The Fire and the Storm will play a preseason game in Seattle on April 29.
They will play again on June 17 as part of the Commissioner’s Cup in Portland. They will meet in the regular season on July 4 (at Seattle), Aug. 8 (in Portland) and on Aug. 14 (at Seattle).
Here is a look back at the complete history of the professional women’s basketball rivalry between Portland and Seattle:
June 3, 2000: Portland 65, Seattle 58
The beginning of the Portland/Seattle rivalry in the WNBA concluded with the Fire coming back from a five-point halftime deficit to beat the Storm in Seattle. The win brought Portland to 1-1 and dropped the Storm to 0-3.
Sylvia Crawley led the way for the Fire with 18 points and a pair of blocks. Sophia Witherspoon added 11 points and Tara Williams was a spark off the bench with 10 points (including a pair of 3-pointers).
Seattle was led by Edna Campbell’s 18 points, but the Storm were stifled by poor shooting. The team made just 35% of shots from the floor and were 1-of-11 from 3-point range.
June 23, 2000: Portland 72, Seattle 61
Both the Storm and Fire were struggling in the opening month of the 2000 WNBA season, but the Fire were able to take a 2-0 series lead against their Cascadia rivals thanks to a slow shooting night for the Storm.
While Seattle made 6 of 12 shots from 3-point range, the Storm only made 37.5% of shots from the floor. Katrina Hibbert came off the bench to lead the Storm with 17 points.
Crawley recorded a 20-point, 11-rebound double-double and the Fire made 27 of 34 free throws (compared to just 13-of-20 for Seattle).
Aug. 6, 2000: Seattle 66, Portland 58 (OT)
Seattle’s Sonja Henning drained an 11-foot jumper at the buzzer to tie the game up at 52-52 and, for the first and only time in the series, Portland and Seattle went to overtime.
A 3-pointer by Charmin Smith propelled the Storm ahead in overtime and the Fire couldn’t keep pace in the final minutes. Jamie Redd led the way for Seattle with 14 points and six rebounds. Smith, Simone Edwards and Stacey Lovelace each scored 10 points coming off the bench.
Portland’s top scorer was Vanessa Nygaard with 14 points, while Witherspoon added 13. The Fire only managed two of eight 3-pointers in the game and they turned the ball over 21 times.
June 19, 2001: Portland 58, Seattle 43
A close 28-26 score at halftime snowballed in the second half as the Fire ran ahead late against Seattle in the teams’ first meeting of 2001.
The Fire weren’t particularly overpowering in the game, but held Seattle to making just 29.8% of shots from the floor and the Storm made only 11 of 21 free throws.
Tully Bevilaqua led the way for Portland with 12 points. Kristin Folkl scored 10 points and recorded a double-double with 12 rebounds. Crawley added 10 points with seven rebounds.
July 4, 2001: Seattle 61, Portland 56
The Fire led this game until midway through the second half, and could not regain the lead down the stretch.
Portland fell cold on the floor, making 32% of field goals and 25% of 3-pointers. For the first time in the series, Jackie Stiles came alive with 18 points (despite making no 3-pointers in the game) and added three assists. Witherspoon added 11 points.
Lauren Jackson and Redd each scored 8 points for the Storm, who made 40% of shots from the floor.
July 20, 2001: Portland 56, Seattle 49
This final matchup of the 2001 season moved the Fire up to an even 10-10 record.
Despite that Portland turned the ball over 17 times, Witherspoon popped off for 21 points while making five of eight 3-pointers.
Semeka Randall scored 14 points for Seattle, and Kamila Vodichkova added 10 points, but the Storm could not hold pace with the Fire’s shooting.
June 2, 2002: Seattle 57, Portland 47
Seattle jumped out to an 18-2 lead in the opening 10 minutes and the Fire never really got their footing in just the third game of the 2002 season.
Crawley scored a team-leading 16 points, but no other Portland player made it to double digits. The Fire made 31.5% of shots from the floor and were successful on zero of 11 shots from 3-point range.
Sue Bird led the Storm with 14 points and five assists.
June 11, 2002: Portland 70, Seattle 63
Just nine days removed from an embarrassing loss, the Fire got a win back against their rival to even the season series.
Ukari Figgs dropped a team-leading 16 points with four assists. Crawley scored 15 points with five rebounds and three blocks, while Alisa Burras scored 12 points with nine rebounds. The Fire made 49.1% of their shots from the floor.
Bird once again led the way for the Storm — something she’d do regularly over the next 20 years in her Hall of Fame career — with 19 points, three assists and five steals. But the Storm only connected on 36.2% of field goals on the night.
Aug. 9, 2002: Seattle 83, Portland 74
The Storm got the better of the Fire in the final game of the series, as the Storm dominated the boards.
Seattle was led by a monstrous 33 points by Bird and Jackson added a double-double with 23 points and 13 rebounds. Seattle had 48 total rebounds and 14 offensive rebounds. Portland, meanwhile, had 30 total rebounds and just four on offense.
Stiles scored a team-high 18 points for the Fire, making four of six 3-pointers. Tamicha Jackson added 16 points with five assists and four steals.
Pre-WNBA
The Cascadia rivalry between Portland and Seattle predates the WNBA’s tenure in both cities.
The Portland Power and the Seattle Reign locked horns in the late 1990s as members of the American Basketball League. And those games paved the way for three years of rivalry games in the WNBA.
“Well, they were awesome. I mean there was a natural rivalry there because we had that rivalry with the Power and the Reign,” former Portland Power and Seattle Storm coach Lin Dunn told The Oregonian/OregonLive. “Then when we were now rivals in the WNBA, it was awesome.”
As the ABL never had more than nine teams at a time, the Power and the Reign played each other several times per season. The teams were set to play eight times in 1998, the season the ABL folded abruptly.
