WNBA to Add Portland-Based Expansion Team for the 2026 season, according to reporter Sean Highkin. The announcement will be made on September 10. Unlike the Golden State Valkyries, who are an expansion team for next year’s 2025 season, Portland’s unnamed WNBA team does not appear to be affiliated with its hometown NBA team.
In fact, the Valkyries are owned by Joe Lacob and the rest of the Golden State Warriors ownership group, while the Portland team has been awarded to the Bhathal family, which owns the NWSL’s Portland Thorns. It’s unclear whether there will be any overlap between the Portland Trail Blazers and the expansion WNBA team, such as shared facilities.
The WNBA already has franchises in Los Angeles and Seattle, and adding San Francisco and Portland to the mix means the West Coast will be well covered (not to mention the two-time defending champion Las Vegas Aces). Will the newcomers form a natural rivalry? Or will a rivalry develop between the Valkyries and the Los Angeles Sparks, as the two Pacific Northwest teams develop their own rivalry?