Get to Know Portland Fire F Chloe Bibby
Chloe Bibby, a tantalizing "stretch four" big capable of hitting threes, was picked today by the Portland Fire in the 2026 WNBA Expansion Draft.
Portland Fire expansion draft pick Chloe Bibby is in tune with a common refrain across the team’s first roster.
Like first pick Bridget Carleton, and fellow first rounder Maya Caldwell, Bibby can shoot threes. Perhaps that’s why she was selected today, one of the lucky eleven who made history as the franchise’s first members.
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.
Bibby - no relation to former NBA playmaker Mike Bibby - was born and raised in Australia. In 2017, she moved stateside to play college basketball at Mississippi State.
The forward played three years in Starkville, earning 49 starts. During her sophomore 2018-19 season, she shot a blistering 45% from beyond the arc, and earned a career high 11.3 points per game. Ahead of the 2021-season, Bibby transferred to Maryland, where she instantly plugged into the starting lineup. Never missing a game across two seasons with the Terrapins, Bibby added balance to her game with impressive free throw shooting (averaging 80%), and reliable defense: she averaged 5.7 rebounds per game, 1.3 steals per game, and 0.4 blocks per game.
After going undrafted in 2022, Bibby returned to the land down under for a professional basketball career. Ahead of the 2023-24 season, she transferred to Polish side AZS AJP Gorzów Wielkopolski, who regularly compete against some of Europe’s best teams in the EuroCup. In her only season in Poland, Bibby was the Polish women’s basketball league’s Most Valuable Player with an impressive 20.9 points and 5.9 rebounds per game. At season’s end, she signed with Spanish side Uni Girona CB. Like clockwork, she proceeded to win the Spanish women’s basketball league’s MVP award.
Bibby’s success overseas drew the attention of last year’s WNBA expansion darlings, the Golden State Valkyries. However, her WNBA start was short-lived. After just five games, the Valkyries waived Bibby. She then picked up a seven day contract with the Indiana Fever, and leveraged that tryout into a one year deal. Just as her career was appearing to take off, Bibby suffered a season-ending knee injury after nine games in Indiana.
Her rookie year in the WNBA was exceptionally brief - just 14 games, with no starts - but Bibby etched a reputation as a stretch four by shooting 40.5% from distance. Bibby 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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