Get to Know Portland Fire G Sug Sutton
Sug Sutton, a 5'8" guard from the Washington Mystics, was selected by the Portland Fire in yesterday's WNBA expansion draft.
Like her new teammate Emily Engstler, Portland Fire expansion draft pick Sug Sutton boasts one trait the young team desperately needs: experience.
The former 36th overall pick in 2020 has played four years in the W, six years of professional basketball overall, and will soon share her experiences with a young expansion team.
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.
A two year starter at Texas, Sutton exceled on both ends of the floor, averaging over 5 assists and 1 steal per game across her junior and senior seasons. The Washington Mystics selected her late in the 2020 WNBA Draft, and that inauspicious start would carry over into the preseason. Prior to the season opener, Washington released their overlooked draft pick. Later that summer, the Mystics brought her back, but she was waived again before 2021’s season opener.
From there, Sutton became a world’s traveler: she played professionally in Poland, Australia, and Turkey. In 2023, she made the opening night roster for the Phoenix Mercury, and would later make history with the franchise’s first triple-double. Midway through the 2024 season, she was traded back to Washington, who offered her a promising new role. Over the 2025 season, Sutton started every game, notching career-best 42.2% field goal shooting and 35.3% three point shooting rates. Flashing that same defensive feistiness she showed in college, Sutton averaged a career high 0.8 steals per game.
Sutton 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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