As the Golden State Valkyries rolled to an 18-point win on Tuesday night, there was an inkling of déjà vu inside Chase Center.

A first-year WNBA team was on the floor, trying to define itself and piece together a rotation all while hiding its inexperience and weaknesses. Golden State and its fans already lived all of that last summer — this time, it was the Portland Fire. 

Ninety minutes before tipoff, Valkyries general manager Ohemaa Nyanin shared a long embrace with her Fire counterpart Vanja Cernivec while players moved through their pregame routines. Their teams have drawn comparisons throughout the early weeks of the season, particularly because Cernivec, who served as the Valkyries’ VP of basketball operations last year, has her fingerprints all over both rosters. 

Even as Golden State separated itself with a 35-point second quarter and a franchise-record 18 made threes in a 95-77 victory, the similarities were apparent. The Fire are a team created with essentially the same blueprint the Valkyries used to build a surprise winner.

“Obviously it’s incredible what happened last season here,” Fire coach Alex Sarama said pregame. “But [we] don’t want to compare ourselves to anyone.”

Like the Valkyries under coach Natalie Nakase, Sarama is determined to forge his own path. He may not enjoy the comparisons, but they’re impossible to ignore.

Before the Valkyries had ever played a game, Nyanin and Nakase knew what they wanted to see on the court. High-intensity defense, spacing, positional versatility, and a drive-and-kick offense.

Portland’s expansion squad was built from overlooked players, international talent, and a coaching staff that’s embracing the team’s underdog status. The Fire are defensive-minded, rely on players seeking bigger opportunities, and have already developed a clear stylistic identity under their first-year coach. Like Golden State, Portland used its first-ever draft pick to stash a young, highly touted European ball-handler, Iyana Martin. They also selected developing French point guard Carla Leite, 22, away from the Valkyries in the expansion draft.

“The interesting thing with expansion teams is just the opportunity players get to play more minutes and that’s been the story with us, and you could argue with the [Toronto] Tempo,” Sarama said. 

Preseason expectations for both franchises in their inaugural years looked strikingly similar. ESPN’s season preview (opens in new tab) projected the Fire to finish in last place, and early skepticism around their roster construction centered on the same question people asked about the Valkyries a year earlier: how do these pieces actually fit together and can they fit quickly enough to matter?

Now the Fire are repeating another step in following the Valkyries’ path: early defiance of expectations — fueled by the perception they’ve been overlooked. The Tempo, who also joined the league this season, are on a similarly impressive path at 5-4. 

Thanks to the Valkyries’ success, the bar for what expansion franchises can achieve has been set much higher. 

All three franchises — Golden State, Portland, and Toronto — were expected to lose early and often. And historically, across every sport, expansion teams usually did. But the WNBA has changed tremendously. There is more talent than these 12-woman rosters can contain. The college game is producing deeper pools of pro-ready players — many first-round draft picks used to struggle to make rosters —  and international scouting has expanded the league’s reach. 

The key is to know exactly what you’re looking for. That was the lesson that Nyanin, Nakase, and the Valkyries organization taught the rest of the league in 2025. It appears to be the one Portland, in particular, is embracing, too.

The Valkyries showed that talent acquisition doesn’t need to be a burden. Veronica Burton was cut from a roster before she got her opportunity with Golden State. Kaila Charles, too. Tiffany Hayes was the only player with an All-Star accolade. Nearly everyone who arrived last year adapted seamlessly, in part because the Valkyries pursued players with a specific vision and role in mind.

“When you come in with a plan and then also pick players that fit that plan, that’s where you build identity,” Nakase said ahead of Tuesday’s game. 

Cernivec and Sarama are also aligned on a shared vision. They share a history that stretches back to the London Lions, where the pair helped build one of Europe’s premier women’s basketball programs. They worked together in the NBA’s international scouting office in Madrid, too. 

Now, they’re working toward tactical and player development innovation — Sarama a practitioner of the Constraints-Led Approach (opens in new tab) (CLA) offensive style. And so, much like Golden State, Portland’s roster leans heavily on international experience. There’s also an identifiable bet on development — take one look at Leite’s leap already — and basketball IQ. The Fire’s leadership is embracing starting from scratch as an opportunity, not a limitation. 

“I think the creativity of all the teams has gone up,” Nakase said. “I think the coaching staffs have gone up. I think the intentionality of how each coach wants to coach their team has gone up.”

That intentionality is on display with both franchises. Portland has collected wins over Connecticut, Indiana, Toronto, and New York to force others around the league to take notice. It’s done so by committing to a style, searching far and wide for talent, then trusting the process enough to withstand the inevitable skepticism that comes with building something new.

A year ago, the Valkyries were an experiment. Now they’re the example everyone — including three more WNBA expansion teams set to arrive by 2030  — will follow.