Teja Oblak: The Import Nobody Was Calling
Slovenia captain. EuroLeague champion. 4.4 assists per game against the best clubs in Europe. The WNBA never picked up the phone. Portland just did.
Who Signs a EuroLeague Champion in April?
A team run by a GM who knows European basketball. That is the short version. Vanja Černivec did not get this job because she read the internet. She came up through European women's basketball and she knows where the useful players are. Teja Oblak is one of them. She has been for years. Nobody in the WNBA was listing her. They were watching college draft prospects and letting a 2025 EuroLeague champion run the point for Galatasaray without a phone call.
On April 15, 2026, Portland picked up the phone. Training camp contract. Not a guaranteed roster spot. She has to earn it through camp and preseason like any other signing. But she is here, and she is in the building, and she is competing for minutes in a rotation that genuinely needs a veteran point guard.
What She Has Done
Let's anchor to verifiable results, because that's what matters. In the 2025-26 EuroLeague Women season with Galatasaray she averaged 10.2 points, 4.4 assists, and 2.5 rebounds per game. EuroLeague Women is the top club competition on the continent. 4.4 assists a game in that league is not a compiler number. It is a player who runs the team. Her shooting and distribution numbers are the numbers of a pro who is still in her prime.
Before Galatasaray she won the 2025 EuroLeague Women Championship with ZVVZ USK Praha, the Czech club that has been one of the dominant teams in Europe. She was also a teammate of Kamiah Smalls at Galatasaray in 2025-26, which is not a small detail. Both players signed in Portland within 24 hours of each other. That is not an accident. That is scouting.
Internationally, Oblak has been a pillar of Slovenia's senior national team. She has played at multiple EuroBaskets. She has been the player her coaches trust to take the ball up the floor when the game is close. That kind of reliability does not show up in a box score. It shows up in how she runs a possession.
Why the WNBA Is Late to This
Point guard is the position where American-born and American-coached players have dominated WNBA rosters for 20 years. The league's scouting infrastructure is still oriented around NCAA production first, European production second. If you are a European guard, you either go to a U.S. college or you get overlooked. Oblak did not go to a U.S. college. She built her career in Europe. That is why a 2025 EuroLeague champion is signing a training camp contract in 2026 instead of getting an established WNBA home in 2021.
Portland's roster construction is betting that infrastructure is wrong. Carla Leite, Luisa Geiselsöder, Iyana Martín Carrión, Frieda Bühner, Chloe Bibby, Nyadiew Puoch, Nika Mühl, and now Oblak. Portland has eight players on the camp roster with international pipelines. The league's best-kept secret is that Europe has been producing high-level guards and forwards for years and nobody in the WNBA was paying close enough attention.
The Fit
Portland needs point guard help. That is not a hot take, it is arithmetic. Sug Sutton is on a qualifying offer. Martín Carrión is not coming until 2027. Mühl is out with an ACL. Without the April 15-16 signings, Portland had one healthy point guard under contract. Oblak gives Coach Sarama a veteran who has run an offense at the EuroLeague level. Harrison gives him a rookie-level ball pressure defender. That is a credible two-person depth chart behind Sutton, and it was built in 48 hours.
Whether Oblak makes the final 12 is an open question. She is competing with Sutton, Harrison, Maya Caldwell, and any combo guards Portland keeps. What she brings is reliability. She does not turn the ball over under pressure because she has been under pressure in Europe for years. That value only shows up if she makes the roster. If Portland decides to go with younger options, the league will have another team calling her within a month.
What to Watch
Training camp opened April 19. The preseason opener was April 29 at Seattle, an 81-91 loss in which Oblak was a DND (did not dress). That makes the May 3 home preseason vs the LA Sparks her real audition: does she handle WNBA speed, does she turn it over, does she find shooters. If the answer is yes, she is going to be on the opening-night roster for the May 9 home opener. If the answer is no, she is back in Europe for another year, and Portland's other camp invites play their way in.
Next preseason game: May 3 vs the LA Sparks at Moda Center, 4 PM PT, on Rose City SportsNet (formerly FOX 12 Plus).
Career Highlights
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Teja Oblak?
Teja Oblak is a Slovenian point guard signed by the Portland Fire on April 15, 2026. She was the 2025 EuroLeague Women Champion with ZVVZ USK Praha and averaged 10.2 PPG and 4.4 APG with Galatasaray in the 2025-26 EuroLeague Women season. Slovenia national team veteran. Portland is her first WNBA team.
What are Teja Oblak's stats?
2025-26 EuroLeague Women (Galatasaray): 10.2 PPG, 4.4 APG, 2.5 RPG. 2025: EuroLeague Women Champion (ZVVZ USK Praha). Longtime Slovenia senior national team player. Zero WNBA games heading into the 2026 season.
Why did Portland Fire sign Teja Oblak?
Point guard depth and European pedigree. With Mühl out for 2026 and Martín Carrión overseas until 2027, Portland needed veteran point guard help. Oblak is a 2025 EuroLeague champion who has run an offense at the highest level of European club basketball. GM Černivec's European scouting network makes this move cost-effective and low-risk: a training-camp contract with massive upside if Oblak adjusts to the WNBA game.
Is Teja Oblak guaranteed to make the roster?
No. Oblak signed a training camp contract, meaning she has to earn one of Portland's 12 standard roster spots through camp and preseason. Training camp opened April 19. Preseason game one was April 29 at Seattle Storm (81-91 loss). Game two is May 3 vs LA Sparks. Final roster cuts happen before the May 9 regular season opener.