The Portland Fire introduced Monday that Golden State Valkyries vice chairman of basketball operations Vanja Cernivec would be the WNBA enlargement franchise’s inaugural normal supervisor.
In her present function, Cernivec helped construct what has been the winningest enlargement group in league historical past. At 19-18, Golden State is in playoff place with seven video games left within the common season. No WNBA enlargement group has ever made the playoffs in its debut marketing campaign.
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Working underneath Valkyries GM Ohemaa Nyanin, Cernivec performed a task within the international-heavy nature of Golden State’s roster. Of the 19 gamers to seem for the Valkyries this season, 10 had been born exterior the US. That determine does not embrace the franchise’s first choose within the WNBA draft, Lithuanian ahead Juste Jocyte, who opted to not play within the league this season at age 19.
Earlier than becoming a member of Golden State, Cernivec spent two seasons as normal supervisor of the London Lions, constructing a group that received the EuroCup girls’s championship in 2024. A local of Slovenia, Cernivec beforehand labored for the NBA in expertise identification and served as a world scout for the Chicago Bulls.
In a launch, the Fire indicated that Cernivec will end the common season with the Valkyries earlier than assuming her duties in Portland on Sept. 15. The Fire, together with the Toronto Tempo, are set to hitch the WNBA in 2026. Toronto employed its GM, Monica Wright Rogers, in February. Neither group has but employed a head coach.