Aces Defeat Storm 101-91 Part 2

Additional thoughts, discussion, and interviews from Seattle's loss to Las Vegas.

Jun 09, 2026

Despite this being the Seattle Storm’s sixth loss in a row and 10th of the season, I come away from Monday’s game highly encouraged. They battled the most talented team in the WNBA to a competitive 10-point loss on the road. Seattle literally took arguably the Aces’s best shot and didn’t get completely blown out. A’ja Wilson had to play 36 minutes, Chelsea Gray played 35, and Jackie Young played 34 minutes in this game. Not one Storm player played over 30 minutes. I believe this was Seattle’s best game of the season when factoring in the competition. If you missed it, you can read the full recap at the link below.

Storm Hang Tough in 101-91 Loss to Aces

Storm Chasers w/ Jeff Brown

Jun 9

(Las Vegas, Nevada) - The Seattle Storm (3-10) lost their 6th game in a row on Monday night, but they played the defending champions very tough. They led by two points after the first period, and hung around all game. Despite the incredible firepower of the Las Vegas Aces (8-3), Seattle was never completely out of it. They just couldn’t get enough stops…

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In Part 2, I wrote about the situation with the Storm releasing Lexie Brown and signing Taylor Thierry to a standard full-time contract. I talked about how Seattle is built to stop A’ja Wilson (down the road). I discussed why I’m so encouraged by this performance and how the future is bright for the Storm organization. I’ve included some quotes and audio interviews with both the Seattle Storm and the Las Vegas Aces.

Brown Out/Thierry In

On Monday afternoon, the Seattle Storm announced that they had waived Lexie Brown. A couple of hours later, the team stated that they had converted Taylor Thierry’s development roster spot to a full-time standard WNBA contract.

The move came after Lexie Brown had missed the last two games and was initially listed on the injury report as OUT for Monday’s game with the designation “Not with Team”. Brown’s playing time had decreased significantly after the Storm added Katie Lou Samuelson and Awa Fam to the active roster.

Before those two joined, Brown’s minutes per game were 22, 21, 16, 16, 22, and 13. After Fam and Samuelson started playing, Brown’s minutes decreased to 8, 11, 13, 5, and 0. Lexie’s final game on the bench was on June 3rd against the Phoenix Mercury, but she never entered the game and was a DNP - Coach’s Decision. From there, when the team traveled to Minnesota, she was listed as “OUT - Not with Team”.

On Monday, the team made it official and released her. From what I know, this isn’t a health issue with Brown. It was a basketball decision. It is also possible that Brown requested to be released if she wasn’t going to play. Coach Sonia Raman was asked about the team waiving Brown and signing Taylor Thierry to the main roster during the pregame press conference. Raman had this to say.

“We decided to waive Lexie. We wish her all the best. I think just where we are as a team and where she is in her career, just weren't aligned at the moment. We're excited about Taylor and her being able to move from her development spot to the roster spot. She's worked really hard. Credit to our player development coaches as well for the work that they put into that space. We want to really be a high-level development system here and be able to bring players in and pour into them and allow them to have these opportunities. So credit to the coaches and credit to Taylor for all the work she's put in to get to this point."

It’s true that Brown didn’t fit in with a team that is trying to build through the draft and their youth. Lexie was the second-oldest player on the roster, only behind Stefanie Dolson. It also didn’t help her case when she was outplayed by others like Zia Cooke. Even though Brown was supposed to be the team’s three-point shooter, Cooke was often the better scorer and shooter as far as consistent bench production.

Before final roster decisions had been made, I had argued that the Storm might be better off waiving Lexie Brown at the beginning of the season to keep Zia Cooke and rookie Taina Mair on the main roster. I was concerned that Mair, as a 2026 first-round pick, may not make it through the waiver wire, and I wasn’t convinced keeping Lexie was worth that risk. However, the team did have options now that the WNBA has implemented the two extra development squad players as part of the new 2026 CBA. Seattle took that risk and waived Mair, but were fortunate in that she wasn’t picked up. They re-added her to the development squad, and that allowed them to keep Brown on the main roster.

With the decision to upgrade Taylor Thierry to the main roster, I have to wonder if the Storm’s front office was concerned that another team was interested in signing Thierry to their main active roster. Or maybe even Thierry’s agent had an offer from another team, and gave the Storm the option to add her to the main roster or let her sign with the other team.

It’s also just possible that the team had been impressed with what they had seen from Thierry in practices and behind the scenes, and they decided that keeping the 23-year-old Thierry was more in line with their vision for the team than keeping 31-year-old Lexie Brown, who might be frustrated by a lack of playing time.

Whatever the reason, Lexie Brown is no longer on the roster. When the trade for Brown was initially made a couple of years ago, I thought it was a smart move because the team clearly lacked three-point shooting in 2024, and it was a big reason they weren’t able to get past the Las Vegas Aces in the first-round of the playoffs. Seattle gave up two second-round picks in exchange for Brown and a third-round pick. It cost Seattle five spots in the 2025 draft (moving from a late 2nd to an early 3rd), and unfortunately, it’s likely going to cost the Storm a very good early second-round pick for the 2027 WNBA Draft. It’ll likely be Pick 16, 17, or 18.

In separate trades, Seattle got pick #2 (Dom Malonga) and pick #3 (Awa Fam) from the Los Angeles Sparks, so I suppose it’s only fair that LA gets a good pick from Seattle too.

Built to Stop A’ja

Well, it obviously didn’t work on Monday night, where the four-time WNBA MVP torched the Seattle Storm for 34 points, 12 rebounds, and nine assists. But I see the vision. Seattle is going to need to get Ezi Magbegor back, but once they do, the Storm are really set up to “stop” A’ja Wilson better than probably any other team in the WNBA. Soon enough, Seattle is going to be able to throw 6’6” Dominique Malonga, 6’4” Ezi Magbegor, and 6’4” Awa Fam at A’ja Wilson. No team can truly stop A’ja, but there is no denying that Seattle has built a roster that potentially could make the game a little more difficult for her.

Malonga was asked about the challenges of defending A’ja Wilson.

“She can score from everywhere. She’s just really efficient. She knows what she’s doing. She wants to get to a spot, and when she’s at her spot, it’s really hard to stop her. So, yeah, we need to be physical with her. She knows how to draw fouls, so it’s just hard to contain her, and of course, we get to guard her as a team. And I think, I mean, we started off in the 1st half, she has 20 points. Of course, when you start like that. It’s hard to cut her fire, but I think overall, as a team, we did a good job because it wasn’t just her today. It was also Jackie Young. We really want to focus on our team defense.” Dom stated.

I thought Dominique Malonga did an excellent job challenging Wilson early on. She knocked the ball away from her once or twice. She forced her into a couple of tough shots. And I loved seeing her physically attack Wilson on the offensive end. Just the other day, I talked about how I still believe Dominique Malonga has the highest ceiling on the Storm because of her physical gifts. She is just going to be bigger than most other players she goes against. She’s going to be faster than a lot of other players her size. And in due time, she’s going to be stronger than most of the other players. When she went right after A’ja and was actually knocking Wilson back, my eyes lit up.

Seattle Storm@seattlestorm

DOM SO TOUGH 😤

2:33 AM · Jun 9, 2026 · 8.83K Views

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I spoke with Dom after the game about her physicality and willingness to go right after A’ja Wilson, the best defensive player in the league.

“Yeah, you want to be aggressive, so I think that’s really something I want to bring to my game because that’s an area where I struggle. So I really want to have this aggressive mindset, and no matter if it’s A’ja, whoever is in front of me, I really want to attack every game like that. That’s the only way I will improve. That’s the only way I think, just going at it. Yeah, naturally, that’s something I worked on. I’m in the weight room every day, and I really think that we can see the difference. And it’s on both ends of the floor on offense and on defense. I want to be able to just not be moved, as people who think I’m just light. And so that’s really what I'm trying to do, having that aggressive mindset all the time.” Malonga told me.

Interestingly enough, someone from the Las Vegas media asked A’ja Wilson about Dom’s aggressiveness towards her during the Aces post-game press conference. She had this to say.

“She’s been out for a couple of games, and I’m pretty sure she’s trying to get back in the flow of it. Why not get into the flow against me? I mean, might as well. I would do the same shit. Excuse me. So yeah, I didn’t take it by any surprise. I just knew if I could just contain, I’m pretty good. But to see her growth, that comes as no surprise. I feel like she is going to have a great career in this league because of her versatility and the things that she can do. I hope that they continue to let her grow, and she plays through that.” Wilson added.

The Storm won’t face the Aces again until September 17th! Ezi should certainly be back by then, so hopefully, we will get to see what Seattle’s defense can look like against A’ja Wilson when they have their three-headed dragon they can utilize in the low post.

If that doesn’t work, then Seattle will just have to rely on good old Father Time. Jewell Loyd’s production has dropped over the past couple of seasons. Chelsea Gray will turn 34 at the end of this season. It’s certainly possible that Gray’s production could fall in another year or two. And while I don’t expect A’ja Wilson to pull a Maya Moore (who retired unofficially at 29), she has stated her interest in starting a family.

Seattle was never going to be better than the Aces during this era, even if they brought back Nneka Ogwumike and Skylar Diggins. The best thing they can do is build for the future when this Aces core is no longer an unstoppable juggernaut. That might take another 3-5 (or more) years, but it’ll happen eventually. Once they fall, ideally, Seattle can take their place.

The Future is Bright

It’s funny how perspective and expectations can really make a world of difference. The Storm lost six games in a row in August of 2025. That was incredibly frustrating to watch, especially with two of those losses coming against the LA Sparks. A team Seattle desperately needed to keep out of the playoffs to secure a lottery pick in the 2026 WNBA Draft. Even more frustrating because the team was led by veterans Nneka Ogwumike, Skylar Diggins, and Gabby Williams, and was supposed to be competing for a WNBA Championship.

Fast forward 10 months later, and the Storm are once again in the midst of a six-game losing streak. But this time, they are doing it with one of the youngest rosters in the WNBA, where multiple rookies are key building blocks to the franchise’s future. The team is not expected to make the playoffs, let alone compete for a championship. Seattle doesn’t need to worry about any other team’s outcomes this year, and losing ultimately means an even better future that is already showing promise in its current state.

The Storm just gave the Las Vegas Aces a tough battle, and it took Herculean efforts by both A’ja Wilson and Jackie Young (who combined for 63 points) to beat Seattle at home by 10 points. Wilson, Young, and Chelsea Gray nearly had to play the entire game. Despite some incredible plays and shots by the Aces, they were never able to completely take the young guns out of the game. Flau’jae Johnson knocked down a three-pointer with seven minutes to go in the fourth quarter to make it just a six-point game at 76-70.

If we go back to 2023, the last time the Storm had a record this bad, Seattle lost to the Las Vegas Aces by the final scores of 105-64, 96-63, 79-63, and 103-77. They lost by 41 points, 33, 16, and 26 points. They weren’t competitive at all. That 41-point loss has to be the worst loss I’ve covered since I started back in 2015.

I’m so encouraged by this performance, especially because of who played well for Seattle. Dominique Malonga scored a team-high 19 points in 16 minutes and 30 seconds. If she had been able to play 36 minutes like A’ja Wilson did, I’m confident she probably would have also scored 30+ points. Malonga is going to continue to get better and better. Especially, as she gets her wind back after not playing for over two weeks.

But it wasn’t just Dom. Awa Fam and Flau’jae Johnson both played critical roles in this game. Fam had her second-highest output of the season with 16 points. Fam is averaging 13.0 PPG since entering the starting lineup over the past three games.

After their last game, I wrote that I felt Flau’jae Johnson was trying to do too much and that was affecting her efficiency. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that she played much more under control, didn’t feel like she had to force things, and ended up having the most efficient game of her young career, where she made 5-9 FG for 13 points. She also had a career-high seven assists and zero turnovers! Johnson’s connection with Awa Fam has been very nice to see. Watching Flau’jae develop a stronger rapport with both Awa and Dom throughout the rest of this season is going to be one of the main storylines to keep an eye on as the season moves forward.

I talked with Awa about the positives she took from this game against a talented Aces team.

“I think that we need to be happy. I think that we really compete, (it was) a really good game. It’s Aces, so we know that they are one of the best teams in the league, but we really compete all the time during the game. So we need to be really happy for us. We need to just practice a lot of little things. But just continue because we are doing things very well.” Fam said.

Fam was later asked about what it was like to play together with Dom Malonga.

“You know, it’s fine. It seems a little bit weird because I think that we never play together, we never practice. We practiced maybe one practice, maybe two practices, but it’s not a lot. It’s very fun because I think that we are looking forward to playing more together. We’re looking forward to being a really great duo on court. So it’s really, really fun. I’m super happy to play with Dom. I think that really can be a really great duo. But it’s just step by step, game by game, and knowing each other day by day.” Fam said.

I asked Coach Raman what she liked about her team’s performance as well.

“I think just their growth and from what we’ve been trying to work on every day and for the past couple days, their preparation; just seeing that carry over from the time we spent in practice yesterday, the time we spent in shoot around this morning, the time in film, their individual work that they do with their coaches,” Raman told me.

“They’re working really hard, and they’re just so committed to the growth and the process, and they have a really good growth mindset. They have a great way about them every day when they come in. They love being around each other. They love playing basketball, and they love the challenge of getting better. So, I love coaching them because they’re always willing to take on these challenges regardless of their experience or whatever the case may be. Just the way they showed up today. And, you know, the Aces went on multiple runs, and they were able to weather those runs, and we were able to go on runs of our own. So just proud of just in terms of the big picture, how they approached that today.” She added.

Coach Raman has a lot to be proud of after that performance.

Player Interviews

Storm - Awa Fam and Dominique Malonga: