PORTLAND, Ore. >> Oregon’s WNBA team stepped back in time for its new name, reintroducing the Portland Fire.

The expansion franchise, which begins play next next season along with the Toronto Tempo, announced its name and branding on Tuesday — reviving the moniker of the city’s previous WNBA team that played from 2000 to 2002.

“Our feeling is that the fire never died,” interim Fire president Clare Hamill said. “Fans have been waiting for us to come back, and we’re back with the Portland Fire.”

In addition to the name, the team has a new “Rose on Fire” logo and a color palette of red, brown, blue and pink.

Portland Trail Blazers owner Paul Allen, the co-founder of Microsoft who died in 2018, was chairman of the original Fire and the two teams played at the Rose Garden, now the Moda Center.

The NBA owned the WNBA teams until 2002, then sold them to affiliated NBA teams or independent owners. Allen declined to buy the Fire and the team folded.

Portland was awarded a new WNBA team last September.

The team is run by Raj Sports, led by Lisa Bhathal Merage and Alex Bhathal, who also own the Portland Thorns of the National Women’s Soccer League. They paid $125 million for the WNBA franchise.

The Fire and the Thorns will share a new joint-training facility in the first such partnership between the two women’s leagues.

The Fire already have sold more than 11,000 season tickets, surpassing the WNBA’s previous best.

The team will play at the Moda Center, where the original Fire averaged some 8,000 fans a game.

Clark, Ionescu and Gray headline WNBA 3-point contest>> Caitlin Clark will be in a 3-point contest for the first time in her pro career as the Indiana Fever guard will compete Friday night in the WNBA All-Star competition.

She’ll be joined by contest record holder Sabrina Ionescu, who last entered the contest in 2023 and hit 25 of her 27 shots in the final round, scoring 37 points. It was the most shots made in a 3-point contest in either the WNBA or NBA.

The Liberty’s star guard wanted to make sure she was completely healthy before officially entering the contest. She said she’ll be trying to break her own mark.

Clark’s management team said earlier this year when she turned down competing in some fashion at NBA All-Star weekend that the young star wanted her first 3-point contest to be in Indianapolis at the WNBA weekend.

Allisha Gray, who made her own history last season, winning the 3-point and Skills Challenge, will try and defend her title in both competitions.

She beat Jonquel Jones 22-21 to win the 3-point shootout. Gray beat Sophie Cunningham by 2 seconds to win the skills competition.

WNBA, players far apart on new CBA talks>> The WNBA players union and league officials have much to discuss when they sit down this week for their first in-person talks as a group since December about the new collective bargaining agreement.

After sharing initial proposals, the two sides apparently are far apart in the early negotiations as they prepare for their first face-to-face meeting that includes the players executive council in Indianapolis on Thursday heading into All-Star weekend.

“We got a proposal from the league, which was honestly a slap in the face,” Phoenix Mercury forward and union rep Satou Sabally said.

Increased salaries, revenue sharing and roster size are three areas where the union expect to see major changes from the current CBA that will expire at the end of this season after the players decided to opt out last year.

Union president Nneka Ogwumike, who has now been a part of three CBA negotiations, is optimistic that Thursday’s meeting could be beneficial for both sides since it’s in-person.