PORTLAND, Ore. — Megan Gustafson has spent much of her WNBA career moving from one stop to the next. This year brought another one, and on Wednesday she said the latest move has felt different.
The Portland Fire forward said the part that matters most is where a player fits. Gustafson, drafted No. 17 overall by the Dallas Wings in 2019, spent two seasons there before a brief stop with the Washington Mystics in 2021. Washington cut her late in 2022 training camp, and the Phoenix Mercury picked her up after that. She later joined the Las Vegas Aces in 2024, then suffered an injury ahead of the 2025 season that nearly ruled her out indefinitely before finishing the year as part of a championship-winning team.
Now with Portland, Gustafson said the challenge for young players is understanding how a role can either free them up or hold them back. “I think it’s all about fit in this league,” she said. “You know, whatever their organization needs in terms of the role that you play is so important, and sometimes in different situations, different environments, sometimes you can feel like you’re kind of in a box, and you can’t really go outside of those boxes.”
She said that can chip away at confidence, especially when players are trying to establish themselves. “And that’s when you kind of lose your confidence,” Gustafson said. “I thought that several times in my career. So I can relate to some of these young players, too, and I’m trying to help them … help them figure out their fit, their role, because sometimes those boxes might constrain you, but also they can help you grow in ways that you’ve never pushed yourself.”
Her comments came one day after Portland won its first-ever home game, beating the New York Liberty on Tuesday with a game winner. Gustafson said the result meant a great deal to a team that has been building its identity as an expansion franchise while practicing at the Viking Pavilion in downtown Portland until its facility is finished.
“It’s amazing,” she said of the atmosphere around the victory. “I mean, I think we all rallied to get that win, and I think it made it more special because we fought so hard to to earn it. And obviously we went against New York, and winning with a game winner, you really couldn’t script it any better.”
Portland announced Alex Sarama as its head coach in October 2025, and his system is built around a Constraints-Led Approach that emphasizes flexibility and open-ended play. That gives Gustafson a chance to work in a setting that values adjustment as much as repetition, a contrast to some of the stops that never fully settled for her before. The next test is whether the Fire can keep turning that fit into wins as the season moves forward.
