{"id":395452,"date":"2026-01-08T05:26:15","date_gmt":"2026-01-08T05:26:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/395452\/"},"modified":"2026-01-08T05:26:15","modified_gmt":"2026-01-08T05:26:15","slug":"2000-wnba-expansion-draft-who-the-portland-fire-picked-and-how-they-fared","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/395452\/","title":{"rendered":"2000 WNBA Expansion Draft: Who the Portland Fire picked and how they fared"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 2026 Portland Fire will make history as the first team to take part in two expansion drafts, even if it\u2019s technically not the same entity it was 26 years ago. <\/p>\n

With no collective bargaining agreement, there are still no dates and no rules set for the 2026 WNBA Expansion Draft (which will include both the Fire and the new Toronto Tempo), fans can still look back on how the draft set the stage for the Fire\u2019s the last time around. <\/p>\n

Here are the complete results of the 2000 WNBA Expansion Draft for the Portland Fire and how the players fared during their time. The 2000 WNBA Expansion Draft also included the Indiana Fever, Seattle Storm and the now-defunct Miami Sol. <\/p>\n

\"AlisaDetroit Shock’s Deanna Nolan (14) and Portland Fire’s Alisa Burras (41) battle for the ball under the basket during a basketball game at The Rose Garden on July 22, 2001.LC- THE OREGONIANPick No. 4: Alisa Burras (forward from Cleveland Rockers) <\/p>\n

Burras became one of just five players to stay with the Portland Fire over the team\u2019s entire three-year lifespan. <\/p>\n

A 6-foot-3 forward, Burras averaged 6.9 points and 3.5 rebounds per game in her career with the Fire. In the 2000 and 2001 seasons, she mostly saw action coming off the bench. Then in 2002, she started 24 of 32 games and scored a career-high 8.7 points per game. <\/p>\n

When the Fire folded, Burras was No. 2 in franchise history in career two-point field goals made with 225 (Sylvia Crowley holds the record with 370), is No. 3 in career rebounds (186) and No. 5 in career points scored (543).<\/p>\n

\"SophiaGuard Sophia Witherspoon celebrates as the Portland Fire overcome a double-digit deficit to defeat the Phoenix Mercury in overtime on June 4, 2001.SP- THE OREGONIANPick No. 5: Sophia Witherspoon (guard from New York Liberty) <\/p>\n

Witherspoon spent the 2000 and 2001 seasons with the Fire, turning into one of the team\u2019s all-time great players and the top three-point shooter in team history. <\/p>\n

Over two seasons, she averaged 14.5 points per game with 2.8 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 1.1 steals, while making 33.9% of her shots from beyond the three-point line. Witherspoon is in the top 10 in every statistical category for the Fire and is the team\u2019s all-time leader in three-point field goals (117) and free throws (218). <\/p>\n

Pick No. 12: Tari Phillips (center from Orlando Miracle)<\/p>\n

Phillips was traded to the New York Liberty for Carolyn Jones-Young prior to the start of the 2000 season.<\/p>\n

Phillips would go on to be a four-time WNBA All-Star and was an All-WNBA Second Team selection in 2002. She cracked the top 10 of MVP voting in 2000, 2001 and 2002. <\/p>\n

Jones-Young, who was coming off an ACL injury, spent the 2001 and 2002 seasons with the Fire. In limited minutes, she averaged 4.6 points per game. <\/p>\n

Pick No. 13: Coquese Washington (guard from New York Liberty)<\/p>\n

Washington also never played a game for the Fire, as she was traded to the Houston Comets for Mila Nikolich. <\/p>\n

Washington was a pass-first guard, averaging 3 points and 2.1 assists per game. <\/p>\n

Nikolich also never suited up for the Fire, instead choosing to play internationally in Spain, Poland, Russia, France and South Korea. <\/p>\n

Pick No. 20: Molly Goodenbour (guard from Sacramento Monarchs)<\/p>\n

Goodenbour never played in the WNBA. By 2002 she was the associate head coach at Santa Rosa Junior College in California. <\/p>\n

Pick No. 21: Jamila Wideman (guard from Cleveland Rockers)<\/p>\n

Wideman only saw action in five games during the 2000 season. She grabbed four rebounds while recording two assists and two steals but never scored a point in her time in Portland. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 2026 Portland Fire will make history as the first team to take part in two expansion drafts,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":395453,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[629],"tags":[49,48,167252,82,630],"class_list":{"0":"post-395452","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wnba","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-smith-berry-farms","11":"tag-sports","12":"tag-wnba"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/395452","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=395452"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/395452\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/395453"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=395452"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=395452"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=395452"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}