Get to Know Portland Fire F Nyadiew Puoch
Nyadiew Puoch, a 6'3" Australian forward, was picked by the Portland Fire in yesterday's WNBA expansion draft.
So far, Nyadiew Puoch has spent the entirety of her basketball career in a land down under.
Yesterday, the Portland Fire tried to change that. They selected Puoch in the second round of the 2026 WNBA Expansion Draft.
This piece is one of eleven profile pieces spotlighting the career journeys of Portland’s expansion draft selections - the first professional women’s basketball players to represent the Rose City since 2002 - and the first members of Portland’s new WNBA team.
Falling in love with basketball at an early age, the daughter of a South Sudanese immigrant played for Melbourne’s Dandenong Rangers U12 through U18 teams. After climbing the ranks as an amateur and then semi-professional, she signed with the Australian WNBL’s Southside Flyers in 2022-23. During her first year in Australia’s top league, Puoch was nominated for the league’s Sixth Woman of the Year and Breakout Player awards. The following year, she was invited to the inaugural women’s Nike Hoop Summit game in Portland, tallying 16 points and 4 blocks.
Puoch was selected by the Atlanta Dream in the 2024 WNBA Draft - who continue to retain her rights - but she elected to stay in Australia. Now age 21, there is hope that the promising young forward is ready to further her playing career in the Rose City.
Puoch and her new Portland Fire teammates will return to the court later this Spring. The Fire’s regular season opener is at home May 9th against the Chicago Sky.
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Matt Bagley is a professional sportswriter and broadcaster 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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