The Portland Fire have made their first ever free-agent signing this afternoon, agreeing to a contract with Karlie Samuelson, a seven-year veteran and 6’0” guard from California.

Samuelson is coming back from a foot injury that required surgery and cut her season short last year in Minnesota, where she was a backup to starters Courtney Williams and Kayla McBride. In 16 games, Samuelson averaged 14 minutes, 3.3 points, 1.3 rebounds, 1.1 assists, 0.4 steals, 0.1 blocks, shot 35% from three and 33% from the field overall.

She is also a career 39% shooter from three, which is elite. She’s contributed positively to winning each of the last three seasons.

The injury comeback and the career profile so far do not tell us that this is a major addition to the on-the-floor product. What tells us more about the pick is Samuelson’s history with the staff of the Fire: General Manager Vanja Cernevic, head coach Alex Sarama, and Samuelson all participated in the 2023-2024 season for the London Lions, before Cernevic joined the Valkyries, Sarama joined the Rip City Remix in his first U.S. gig, and Samuelson joined the Washington Mystics. Karlie was the EuroCup MVP in that season.

Additionally, Samuelson and Bridget Carleton, Portland’s first pick in the expansion draft, played together in Minnesota last season as well as the CBK Mersin's 2024-2025 season in Turkey.

The Fire staff have very clearly valued previous relationships, and they also clearly value their ability to rehab players after using their final expansion draft pick on Nika Mühl, who that same week had ACL surgery for the second time in two years.

It’s an upside pick for a quality role player, which isn’t the most exciting first-signing ever made, but bit-by-bit, Portland is building their very first basketball team, and we’ll enjoy the process each and every day.

I’ll chime back in when more action happens.