"The Portland Fire announced Monday that Golden State Valkyries vice president of basketball operations Vanja Cernivec will be the WNBA expansion franchise's inaugural general manager. In her current role, Cernivec helped build what has been the winningest expansion team in league history. At 19-18, Golden State is in playoff position with seven games left in the regular season. No WNBA expansion team has ever made the playoffs in its debut campaign."
"Working under Valkyries GM Ohemaa Nyanin, Cernivec played a role in the international-heavy nature of Golden State's roster. Of the 19 players to appear for the Valkyries this season, 10 were born outside the United States. That figure doesn't include the franchise's first pick in the WNBA draft, Lithuanian forward Juste Jocyte, who opted not to play in the league this season at age 19."
Vanja Cernivec has been named inaugural general manager of the WNBA expansion Portland Fire and will assume duties on Sept. 15 after finishing the season with the Golden State Valkyries. Cernivec is Golden State's vice president of basketball operations and helped build the winningest WNBA expansion team. She helped assemble an international-heavy roster—10 of 19 players were born outside the U.S.—and previously spent two seasons as general manager of the London Lions, building a EuroCup-winning team. A Slovenian native, Cernivec worked in NBA talent identification and as an international scout for the Chicago Bulls. Portland and the Toronto Tempo will join the WNBA in 2026.
Read at ESPN.com
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