PORTLAND, Ore. — Talk about a bummer.

Oregon Ducks greats Sabrina Ionescu and Satou Sabally are sidelined for the Liberty’s only trip to Portland this season.

Ionescu and Sabally didn’t play in the Liberty’s 98-96 loss to the Fire on Tuesday night and will not play in Thursday’s rematch.

Ionescu injured her left foot in the Liberty’s preseason finale May 3 and won’t be reevaluated until early next week. Though she won’t suit up, Ionescu did make the trip to Portland.

Meanwhile, Sabally has yet to make her Liberty debut after missing the team’s two preseason games for reconditioning purposes before being sidelined with a cyst. Sabally is considered day to day, coach Chris DeMarco previously said, but she didn’t join the team on its trip to Portland.

Ionescu had been campaigning for the WNBA to bring a team to Portland for quite some time and was ecstatic when the City of Roses was granted an expansion team in September 2024.

The Fire became the WNBA’s 15th franchise and joined the Toronto Tempo in embarking on their inaugural seasons this summer.

Though Fire fans hoped Ionescu would return to Oregon like a prodigal daughter, the No. 1 overall pick in 2020 made a long-term commitment to the Liberty this offseason, signing a three-year deal that keeps her in New York through the 2028 season.

Sabally, who played alongside Ionescu at Oregon for three seasons, is signed through next season.

Ionescu did relish a homecoming a year ago when the Liberty played a preseason game at Oregon’s Matthew Knight Arena in Eugene.

But a chance to play a meaningful WNBA game in Oregon will likely have to wait another year. That would change only if the Fire were to make the playoffs in their first year, but that’s a long shot. Portland has the worst odds to make the postseason, per BetMGM.

Rebecca Allen participated in the Liberty’s shootaround Tuesday morning at Moda Center, but her season debut remains on hold as she deals with soreness in her left leg.

Allen missed both of the Liberty’s preseason games for reconditioning purposes.

Soreness in her leg flared up ahead of Thursday’s season opener.

She told reporters she thought she’d be ready by Sunday’s game at Washington, but that didn’t happen.

CENTRAL OREGON (KTVZ) — New rules approved by Oregon regulators aimed at how utilities charge large energy users are expected to have implications beyond Portland General Electric, including for Central Oregon customers served by Pacific Power.

The Oregon Public Utility Commission approved changes allowing Portland General Electric to charge higher rates to large energy users such as data centers. The goal is to ensure those customers pay for the cost of expanding the power grid, rather than shifting those costs onto smaller or household ratepayers.

The move comes after six consecutive years of rate increases for Oregon customers, driven in part by what PGE describes as an unprecedented rise in electricity demand, with data centers as a major factor.

Under the new rules, large energy use facilities must pay 100% of the cost to expand distribution systems needed to serve them. They must also use at least 90% of their contracted power capacity, with requirements for contract lengths and penalties for exceeding usage or exiting early.

The rules define large energy users as facilities capable of drawing more than 20 megawatts of power at a time. A separate category for “very large loads” — those exceeding 100 megawatts — includes a 1 cent per kilowatt-hour surcharge, with funds going toward reducing energy burden for vulnerable customers.

The order also includes a queue system to ensure new large users can only connect when enough zero-emission energy is available to meet demand under House Bill 2021.

While the decision directly applies to PGE, Pacific Power is proposing a similar approach for customers in Central Oregon.

PacifiCorp exclusively sent a statement to KTVZ News, saying utilities have seen a growing number of extremely large new load requests in recent years, requiring significant investments in transmission and generation infrastructure.

The company has filed a proposed tariff with the Oregon Public Utility Commission under House Bill 3546 to create a new rate schedule for “New Large Energy Use Facilities.” Under the proposal, large energy users such as data centers would be required to cover the costs of infrastructure upgrades needed to serve them.

PacifiCorp said the approach would allow the utility to meet the needs of large energy users while continuing to invest in infrastructure and protecting affordability for other customer classes.

PGE has until June 3 to file a new pricing system to implement the order, which would take effect June 10. The utility is also required to begin annual reporting on large energy users starting June 1, 2027.