Fire hires Sarama, Cavs assistant, as head coach for the WNBA

Alex Sarama to Lead the Portland Fire

The Portland Fire, a WNBA expansion team, has hired Alex Sarama, assistant coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers, as their inaugural head coach. This was announced by the team and Sarama. Sarama is recognized for his knowledge of an innovative training system that has gained popularity in European basketball, soccer, and, increasingly, in the NBA. Players like Victor Wembanyama of the San Antonio Spurs and coaches like Kenny Atkinson of Cleveland are proponents of this approach.

Having the opportunity to implement the principles of CLA (Constraint-Led Approach) with an expansion team is ideal. We will be able to hire people who fit the new system and we will not have to unlearn a previous system.

Alex Sarama

Sarama explained that this approach allows her to impact each department and have a unified approach where everyone works in harmony. Vanja Černivec, general manager of the Fire, coming from the Golden State Valkyries, where she was vice president of basketball operations, has a deep understanding of the European market. Černivec met Sarama years ago at the NBA office in Madrid, being impressed by her intellect and passion for coaching.

For me, he was a genius. He produced documents and work that took me two hours, he did them in five or ten minutes. I wondered how this kid’s brain worked. And his obsession was always training.

Vanja Černivec

In addition to his academy, Sarama had successful stints as a coach with the London Lions, Paris Basketball, and RipCity Remix. His fame grew after the publication of his bestseller, “Transforming Basketball”, in 2024. Atkinson, who read the book, brought him in as a player development coach for the Cavaliers. The CLA is a training methodology that emphasizes adaptability, improvisation, and decision-making instead of predetermined patterns and exercises. Sarama rarely repeats the same exercise, using games with different constraints, such as rule changes, scoring changes, or time limits, to force players to make decisions under pressure. Sarama explained that players generally enjoy this approach, as it offers a change in their NBA careers. He considers it more appealing and creative. Hiring NBA coaches is becoming increasingly common in the WNBA, especially after the success of the Phoenix Mercury under coach Nate Tibbetts and general manager Nick U’Ren, both former NBA assistants. Valkyries coach Natalie Nakase also came from the NBA coaching staff. Sarama and the Cavaliers are discussing when she will leave Cleveland to start full-time in Portland. The WNBA’s collective bargaining agreement expires on October 31, and it is unknown how the negotiations will affect the expansion draft and free agency. For now, she will remain in Cleveland, but hopes to start soon in Portland, which will begin its participation in May 2026.