Fire Sign Former Oregon Duck, London Lion Holly Winterburn
Holly Winterburn, who played at Oregon from 2019-20 and for Vanja Černivec & Alex Sarama's London Lions from 2021-24, is headed to Portland.
Holly Winterburn was fated to play for the Portland Fire.
Portland’s newest free agent signing was born in England’s historic East Midlands town of Northampton, Winterburn first moved stateside for the chance to play alongside Sabrina Ionescu, Satou Sabally, and Ruthy Hebard at Oregon. While slowly building a reputation for reliable three point shooting, her NCAA dreams came to a screeching halt at the start of the Coronavirus pandemic. In the late Spring of 2020, Winterburn returned to her native country.
Great tragedy fostered an even greater opportunity: while finishing her collegiate studies, the 5’11” shooting guard played on the British Basketball League’s London Lions, a club coached by Alex Sarama and overseen by general manager Vanja Černivec. Her time with the Lions - alongside new teammates Karlie Samuelson and Megan Gustafson - led to a stint with Turkish powers Beşiktaş, and that one season in Turkey coincided with Fire expansion draft pick Nika Mühl, foreshadowing today’s signing once again.
Two years later, all of those connections paid off. Earlier today, Winterburn was named the Fire’s second developmental player.
In February 2025, Winterburn signed a training camp contract with the WNBA’s Atlanta Dream, but would go on to miss the season due to injury. Last week, Atlanta re-signed her, only to waive the guard two days later. Any minutes this season would mark her WNBA career debut.
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Matt Bagley is a professional sports journalist with a passion for women’s sports. Outside of work, he cherishes quality time with his birth family, his chosen family, and one very pesky house panther.
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