Sarah Ashlee Barker was born in Birmingham, Alabama, a city wedged just north of the middle of the state, boasting a population of just under 200,000. The greater Birmingham area is home to around 1.19 million people, and it is also home to something else.
Birmingham is also resplendent with some of the most beautiful parks, trails and natural areas you can find on that side of the Mississippi River. That’s something the city has in common with Barker’s new home: Portland, Oregon.
So the idea that Barker immediately felt more settled in Oregon than she did in Los Angeles isn’t too much of a surprise. “Just something about it, the second that I landed in Portland, and just walking around, kind of seeing the city, it was just … it felt a little more homey to me,” Barker told The IX Sports while standing in an off-court tunnel on the floor level of Gainbridge Fieldhouse on May 20.
“[Portland is] kind of more of my type of vibe,” Barker explained, “In a sense of LA had a lot going on … there’s so many people there, there’s so much traffic. … So [Portland] kind of reminds me of Birmingham a little bit.”
The Portland Fire organization is also a big reason for her comfort. “I mean, I think that the home part of it, too, is the organization here, the people on the team, the fans … they make me seem like we’re a family, and so I think that’s where it comes from.”
Those words weren’t too dissimilar from what she told reporters following the Fire’s first win of the season, a battle against the New York Liberty that ended with Barker grabbing an offensive rebound and sinking it as the buzzer blared.
She fell to the court on her back, was immediately besieged by a thrilled Carla Leite and the rest of her team, and lay there as confetti rained down from the Moda Center. If ever the word belonging needed an illustration, live and in real time, that was a good one.
Barker, who’d previously mentioned a death in the family that she was grieving that same day, told reporters, “For me, to be able to go out on the court and hit that last shot and just feel the embrace from all my teammates and all the love and care … that was probably the most surreal moment of my life. Just knowing they had my back in that moment … at the end of the day, I stepped on that court last night, and I was playing, because I love the game, and because I’m going to give everything I have to the game.”
The fanbase in Portland was also close to Barker’s heart. “I think that an outsider looking in, I think last night showed the togetherness, the love, the passion, the grit, that we’re trying to build here for the city of Portland,” she later added. “I think it also brings the fans into it, too.”
“The support that they give us… they’re the anchor to us,” Barker said.
“She was better than all of them”
Barker’s other anchors include her family. She’s the only girl in a family of four kids and grew up playing basketball alongside her brothers, Andrew, Braxton and Harrison. Braxton, who is two years older and currently a football analyst at the University of Alabama, said she had to be tough.
“Growing up, we never really gave her an inch in anything,” he told The IX Sports. “If we were playing basketball in the backyard, she was one of the guys.”
“I mean, I’m two years older than she is, and she was one of my friends from the time … she was probably five, six years old. And there was no let-up, there was nothing,” he continued. “We were blocking her shots, power, all the stuff that as a brother … you’re going to guard her hard to make her earn it.”
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Competing with and alongside the boys extended into organized competition. “She and Harrison played on the same basketball team from the time they were in third grade until middle school, and she played with the boys,” Braxton Barker added. “She was the only [girl] in the league, and she was better than all of them.”
The Barker family is filled with athletes. Barker’s mom, Amy Rozell, was involved with the athletics program at John Carroll Catholic High School. Her brother Harrison played football at UAB and is now a coach at Lipscomb Academy. Her father, Jay Barker, is a former professional football player who also played for the flagship University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa.
“We knew really, really good things were coming,” Braxton said.
The 2025 WNBA Draft changed everything
Growing up in a competitive family often results in one of two things: either bucking the trend and shying away from it, or leaning in and taking it up a notch. “She probably used to have a little bit of a temper growing up,” Braxton explained. “That’s probably now been controlled more into passion and competitiveness that every real big competitor has. But that’s probably where it all stems from, is us being competitive and everything we did growing up.”
Barker announced her decision to commit to the University of Georgia in October 2018. “People say there’s something special in Athens, and it’s so true,” she told The Hoover Sun at the time. “It was like I was already part of the family. The atmosphere is crazy. I literally had chill bumps standing on the sidelines.”
At the time, she felt that branching out to another state gave her a chance to build her own story, piece by piece. “At Alabama, there’s already a story, and I kind of want to make my own story and name for myself, and I feel like it’s a perfect opportunity,” she added.
After two seasons with the Bulldogs, though, she entered the transfer portal in 2022. This time, she wanted to play at home.
That decision introduced her to Kristy Curry, then the head coach for Alabama’s women’s basketball program, who now leads South Florida.
From the start, it was clear Barker wanted to win. “[She was] just an incredible competitor, she competed at the classroom, court, and community,” Curry told The IX Sports. “I always say that your will has to be stronger than your skill, and she has an incredible ability to will each and every day to be a great day. I think that becomes contagious.”
Curry isn’t surprised Barker is becoming such a fan favorite in Portland, but she is grateful for it. “I know with her, she’s always played from the front of her chest,” Curry said. “It’s never been about the back. So when she has that kind of support … that really fuels her. When she knows she has the team behind her — not just her own team, but a fanbase behind her — she just wants to be exceptional for everybody.”
Barker began her final year at Alabama by averaging 15.6 points, 5.9 rebounds, and 3.3 assists per game over the first 15 contests of the season, propelling the Crimson Tide to a 14-1 start, the best in program history. She finished the season as the fifth player in program history to reach career marks of at least 1,000 points, 500 rebounds and 250 assists.
When reflecting on her time in the program, she laughed and admitted, “Why did I take some stuff so serious that was not that serious?”
“I think that it just honestly shows me how much gratitude I have for the University of Alabama, and just the people there, the support, the relationships that were built,” she added. “I think that when you look back on it, it’s not really about the wins and the losses, it’s about who was in the locker room with you, who the coaches are.”
“Just knowing that they also support me to this day, and that they would do anything for me … I would do anything for them,” she added. “The sisterhood we created … that is what I just love about it.”
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The WNBA wasn’t immediately top of mind for Barker, who told The Crimson White in January 2025 that she wants to coach after she’s finished playing basketball. She was named to the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association’s “So You Want To Be A Coach” program in 2025, but those plans were put on pause when the Los Angeles Sparks came calling.
Barker was selected as the ninth overall pick in that year’s draft by the Sparks, and nearly immediately packed up her life and moved to Los Angeles, clear across the country. With her selection, she became the ninth WNBA draft pick in Alabama program history, followed that same night by two of her Alabama teammates, Aaliyah Nye and Zaay Green, who became No. 10 and No. 11 in program history.
Her rookie season was pretty successful. Barker saw an average of 14.1 minutes on the court and ended the 2025 season with 3.1 points per game, 1.9 rebounds, and 0.3 steals. She displayed hints of that competitive spirit, but as a rookie, didn’t get very many chances to show exactly what she could do.
The Portland Fire showed an intention to change that this April, when the team selected her in the 2026 expansion draft.
“Sarah Ashlee is a young player who embodies the competitiveness, attitude and work ethic every organization values,” said the Sparks’ GM Raegan Pebley at the time. “She’s a promising talent who approaches the game the right way, and Portland is gaining both a competitor and an incredible person. We wish her the very best in this next chapter.”
The Fire called Curry ahead of that decision, she told The IX Sports this month, to learn a little more about how she might fit in on the team, and what characteristics she could bring to Portland. “I’ve been getting several text messages from there, from their leadership, and they’re like, ‘You know, everything you said is so true.'”
“I’m like, ‘Well, I always try to tell the truth,'” Curry continued. “But until you have a chance to experience it, you can’t explain it. And she’s pretty special.”
The Fire’s head coach, Alex Sarama, agrees. While speaking to reporters ahead of the team’s May 20 game against the Fever, he recalled what Curry told the team’s leadership about Barker, and what he’s observed since.
“The best example is that last game, where she got three offensive rebounds and then a kick-out three to BC [Bridget Carleton],” Sarama said. “We have said quite a few times this season, in terms of our effort level, our competitive level has to be higher than any other team in the league this year.”
“And that’s one of the reasons I’m so proud, and I’m so grateful to be coaching this group of players, because they’re bringing it every single night,” he continued. “And no matter the school and no matter the circumstances, we’re seeing the grittiness, the resilience, and I think SAB is just a prime example of that.”
When Barker arrived in Portland, her professionalism was on full display. “And that’s the culture I want here,” Sarama also said. “I want this environment of joy and playfulness, but then we’re all about our work, and all about business when it’s business.”
For the Fire, that business is certainly ramping up. The team played their first four regular-season games at home at the Fire Pit, an appropriate nickname given to the Moda Center. They came away from those matches 2-2 — defeating the Connecticut Sun, losing to Chicago and splitting a pair with New York — before hitting the road for the first time.
The team’s first away game, against the Indiana Fever, resulted in a tough 90-73 loss. Barker, who played 19 minutes, had 8 points on 2-of-8 shooting; not her best night. But the 2026 WNBA season is young, and she’ll have plenty of opportunities to bounce back.
For Barker, her next steps with the Fire are clear. “I just think I’m always gonna give my full effort,” she said. “I think it’s one of those things where I like to do the little things, and so whatever the team needs of me and whatever they ask of me, I’m gonna do it.”
She continued, “And so, at the end of the day, it’s just putting the team before myself and just being selfless. … I want to be the hardest working player on the team, and that’s what it’s all about.”
Showing up for her teammates matters, she added, because of the ways they’ve already shown up for her. “I want them to know I have their back, and that they can count on me and stuff like that. Because we’re basketball players, but we’re humans, too. A lot of people lose that sometimes, in a sense, of not realizing that we do have some stuff going on, too.”
The Fire picked up their first road win in franchise history Saturday evening, as Barker contributed 12 points, three rebounds and an assist in a 99-80 win over the Toronto Tempo.
Next up is a May 25 meeting with the New York Liberty for the third and final time this season — this time on the Liberty’s home court. Portland fans can see the Fire again at home on Wednesday, May 27, when they once again host the Connecticut Sun.