Does the Storm Have Everything They Need?

The foundation has already been built.

The rest of this 2026 WNBA season is going to be a fascinating one to watch for the Seattle Storm. With a young and inexperienced team, there is going to be a lot of ups and downs. The expectation is that the team will show improvement in Games 25-44 from Games 1-24. I feel we’ve already seen some of that despite the fact that the Storm finished with a 2-9 record in June.

But for those paying attention, we’ve seen growth even amid these losses. Several of their losses in June came down to the 4th quarter. Most of them were in the clutch moments where veterans on other teams just made a couple of additional big plays to close out the game.

Seattle is known for its coffee, and something has been brewing in Lower Queen Anne. You could sense that these types of performances were on the horizon even as the losses piled up in that 11-game losing streak. After I saw this team go toe to toe with the Dallas Wings in a 112-110 OT loss, I knew good things were right around the corner. There were some signs during the team’s 101-91 loss down in Las Vegas against the defending champs, but it was the Dallas game where the light truly went off.

One of the things I’ve been most impressed with over these last three games is the Storm’s ability to respond. They have stopped runs by the other team from getting out of hand. They’ve pushed back and converted points to counter the opposing team’s best players. A list that includes Paige Bueckers, Azzi Fudd, Jessica Shepard, Jonquel Jones, Sabrina Ionescu, Leonie Fiebich, Rhyne Howard, Allisha Gray, and Angel Reese. I spoke with Coach Sonia Raman about her young team’s ability to fight back.

“Yeah, it’s funny. Actually, that’s exactly what I talked to them about postgame was just the resilience that they’re showing, and the way that they’re able to answer and respond. You know, I think that they’re a little more battle-tested now than they were early on, right? You know, it’s not like it’s been that many games, but even just those reps and going through it. And I think, like, the competitors that they are, made it so that, like, they were not going to let that continue to happen. You know?” Raman told me.

“I think that’s what happens in games. Teams go on a run. The competitiveness kicks in, the pride kicks in, their belief in each other. And the way that they give confidence to each other kicks in, and they’re able to just find another gear. And I think we showed that earlier in the season, too, but probably not as consistently and not as often. So it’s just, it’s really nice to see the way that they continue to play for each other.” Seattle’s coach added.

I was also able to talk with Flau’jae Johnson in the post-game about this.

Johnson said, “I think we just learned. I think we’re a young group, and so you can’t expect... Awa is like 12. So I think we were a young group and we just learned how to play together. It’s just, it’s fun to see everything happen in real time, and in this game, when it got close, we had some real conversations, some real accountability conversations in real time, and we held each other accountable, and at the end, we said, we in this together, and we and we shook back, and we took that lead at the end of the 4th quarter, probably like 4 minutes left. And I just felt like I was so powerful, it kind of brought tears to my eyes. But, you know, I told you, no rain, no flowers. No rain, no flowers.”

The flowers are starting to blossom in the Evergreen State, and it’s going to be a thing of beauty.

This season has always been about growth and development. Seattle is starting the youngest frontcourt duo in WNBA history. Dominique Malonga and Awa Fam are both just 20 years old. Fam literally just turned 20 around 10 days ago. But it isn’t just those two. Look at the team’s current starting lineup. Four of the five players are 20, 20, 22, and 23 years old. Natisha Hiedeman is the “old” vet, and she is 29.

When looking at recent WNBA Championship teams, we have to see what they had and compare that to what the Seattle Storm currently have. While the thought and maybe even “plan” was to rebuild and add another lottery pick to this core, the question might soon become, does the Storm already have everything they need?

What Do Championship Teams Have?

If we look through the recent history of the WNBA Champions, what are the commonalities among them? The Las Vegas Aces have won three out of the last four WNBA titles. They have the best player in the league, A’ja Wilson. Wilson is a four-time WNBA MVP and an elite post player. She is physically strong and can dominate inside against single coverage. Wilson can stretch the floor with an efficient midrange shot, and in recent seasons, she’s developed a three-point shot.

A dominant low-post player has been the key to the Aces’ success. But that’s not the only thing they’ve needed. Las Vegas didn’t start winning championships until they signed Chelsea Gray in free agency. Gray was pivotal in the Aces’ first championship in 2022. She played so well that she won Finals MVP over A’ja Wilson. Gray was the reason the Aces got past the Storm in the semifinals.

The Aces have also had talented wing players in Jackie Young and Kelsey Plum. In their last Championship, they swapped Plum for Jewell Loyd. Those wings could score in bunches and were excellent from beyond the arc. That allowed them to stretch the floor and space things out for A’ja Wilson.

Las Vegas also had a complimentary post player paired with Wilson. First, it was Kiah Stokes who helped pick up the defensive slack so Wilson could focus more on offense. Then NaLyssa Smith joined last season and played a huge role as a strong rebounder and a more offensively talented player.

Five out of the last eight WNBA Championships have been won by either the Las Vegas Aces or the Seattle Storm. Seattle also had a dominant low-post player in Breanna Stewart, but one who was so versatile that she could score anywhere on the court. Seattle also had an excellent veteran point guard to lead the way, in Sue Bird. Bird orchestrated the offense and was the head of the snake.

Jewell Loyd was the talented scoring guard who could create her own shot and help space the floor. Seattle also had the other post player in Natasha Howard, who could take the defensive pressure off of Stewart. They also had 3-and-D veterans Sami Whitcomb and Alysha Clark, who were key role players on those championship teams.

The three other teams that have won the WNBA Championship since 2018 were the Washington Mystics, Chicago Sky, and the New York Liberty. The Mystics were led by Elena Delle Donne and Emma Meeseman in the post. They had Natasha Cloud and Kristi Toliver to run the point, and Ariel Atkins as their scoring wing. Chicago had Candace Parker, another talented, versatile post player and former MVP. Kahleah Copper was their creative scoring wing, while Courtney Vandersloot ran the offense as their veteran point guard. Allie Quigley was their 3-and-D role player.

The New York Liberty built a superteam, but they still followed the same formula. They added Jonquel Jones and Breanna Stewart. Both former MVPs, who can dominate inside and out with their size, skill, and versatility. Sabrina Ionescu was the Liberty’s scoring guard, and Courtney Vandersloot ran the show as the veteran point guard. Betnijah Laney-Hamilton and Leonie Fiebich were their 3-and-D players.

These are the critical pieces a team needs to win a WNBA Championship in this modern era.

Seattle’s Young Core

The Storm are building around the young core of Dominique Malonga, Awa Fam, and Flau’jae Johnson. Those three players have consistently been Seattle’s best players this season, along with veteran combo guard Natisha Hiedeman. They are the future of the franchise.

Dominique Malonga and Awa Fam are going to be Seattle’s starting frontcourt for the next 5-10 years. They are these hybrid post players that can play inside or out. They also complement one another because of Malonga’s size and strength in the paint, and Fam’s excellent three-point shooting ability. Dating back to the team’s June 10th game against the LA Sparks, Awa Fam is shooting 63% from beyond the 3-PT line. That’s on relatively high volume, too. She’s made 19-30 FG, including 5-6 FG in Saturday’s game against the Atlanta Dream. That is unreal for a post player. Scratch that. That’s unreal for ANY player.

Malonga can absolutely dominate the game, and most of the time, it just looks relatively easy for her. Her 37 points and 12 rebounds against the Dallas Wings made her look like an unstoppable force. In that game, she certainly was. In four of the last five games, Malonga has put up at least 15+ PPG and 10+ RPG. In three of the five, it’s been 20+ PPG and 10+ RPG. As I’ve written numerous times now, Dom has size, length, and skill that very few players can replicate. There are some really tall players out there. There are some very skilled players. There are almost no players with her size and skill.

Well before the WNBA Draft, I wrote that if the team selected Flau’jae Johnson, she could become their Jewell Loyd replacement. And while Loyd’s time in Seattle had a bit of a messy ending, she is the most talented shooting guard the franchise has ever had. Loyd is a six-time WNBA All-Star, three-time WNBA Champion, and a former scoring leader in the league. While they aren’t identical players, Johnson and Loyd share similarities: they can both create off the dribble, create their own shot without needing to come off screens, score at all three levels, and are hyper-athletic.

Both Dom and Awa can replicate a lot of what Breanna Stewart did. They obviously still need a lot more time to grow and develop. Stewie is a better ballhandler, and she probably has more of a killer instinct. Flau’jae can fill the role that Loyd had in Seattle’s championship seasons.

That leads us to the question: Who will be Seattle’s next Sue Bird?

What Do They Need?

I think the most common sentiment is that they need a true point guard. But I think the rest of this season will be a good opportunity for both Natisha Hiedeman and Jade Melbourne to show that maybe that isn’t the case. If Jade can ever develop a consistent three-point shot, she still could be the team’s long-term point guard. She’s 23, just one year older than Flau’jae, and her 18-point and 7-assist performance against New York was an example of her potential. Hiedeman has certainly proved that she’s a scorer, but it was her 11 assists against Dallas that were even more impressive. Both guards will need to continue building chemistry with their teammates, especially with the two posts, as the season progresses.

These remaining 24 games in the 2026 season will give us a much better idea of where Seattle stands with their point guard situation. No one will ever actually, truly replace Sue Bird, but all these other WNBA teams also won championships, and they didn’t specifically have Bird on their teams. The Storm just need a strong leader and a player who can execute the offense and set their teammates up for success. Melbourne has demonstrated some of that this season, especially in how she talks during interviews.

It helps if they can break down defenses with dribble penetration, but that certainly wasn’t Bird’s game. Three-point shooting is also key because it creates space for Seattle’s talented post players to operate without a clogged paint, and punishes teams that may try to double or triple team Malonga or Fam.

Hiedeman has the three-point shooting and the dribble penetration aspects to her game. We just need to see her improve her playmaking ability. For any complaints that Seattle needs a true PG, Hiedeman is having the best season of her WNBA career. She’s averaging 15.6 PPG and 4.7 APG. For reference, Skylar Diggins is averaging 14.3 PPG and 4.9 APG this season in Chicago. Diggins averaged 15.5 PPG and 6.0 APG last year with the Storm, so Hiedeman’s numbers aren’t that far off. But there is certainly room for improvement, especially in the areas where she can get the ball to her teammates in tighter windows.

Meanwhile, Melbourne is a stronger downhill driver. She is a bit faster at beating her opponents off the dribble to the rim. That also opens up more passing opportunities for her. I’ve seen a little more playmaking ability and smoother passing from Melbourne than from Hiedeman, but Natisha is clearly the better shooter and scorer. Jade’s biggest weakness is her outside shooting and not being a serious threat to do damage from 3-PT range. That is probably the main thing she needs to develop, not unlike Jordin Canada, who couldn’t make threes at all in Seattle, but later developed that part of her game in Atlanta. It was a positive sign that Melbourne made 2-2 FG from beyond the arc in Saturday’s contest against the Dream. Melbourne is shooting 26% from long range this season and has only shot above 30% in one of her four WNBA seasons. If she can even push that average to 33-35%, that would be a huge improvement for her game and make her a much more dangerous threat for defenses to worry about. We’ll see if Melbourne can continue to make improvements. She actually doesn’t need to improve as much as Canada did. In Jordin’s first five seasons in the WNBA, she shot below 20% in four of those seasons, including one season below 10%!

Still Missing Pieces

Through nearly half the season, the Storm haven’t had a fully healthy roster for even one game. They have been without Ezi Magbegor all year. Magbegor is an elite rim protector and interior defensive player. She is also the same prototypical mold of players like Dominique Malonga, Awa Fam, Breanna Stewart, etc. It’ll be fascinating to see how Magbegor pairs with Malonga and Fam. Ezi, in her own right, was a WNBA All-Star in 2023 and is just entering her prime now. At an absolute minimum, she can play the role that players like Natasha Howard, Kiah Stokes, and NaLyssa Smith have been for their championship squads.

The team has also been with Jordan Horston for five games. Horston is the team’s best defensive wing. It’s unclear whether Jordan will ever develop a consistent three-point shot to be a true 3-and-D player. But her defense will always give her an important role on any team. And there is still a lot of untapped potential for Jordan on the offensive end.

I would say Zia Cooke is more of a microwave scorer than a traditional 3-and-D player. But that role is also important. Dana Evans has played that role for two championship teams in Chicago and Las Vegas. Sami Whitcomb and Epiphanny Prince played that role in Seattle.

Still Playing the Lottery?

It’s a little ironic because my “concern” is that the Storm might be too good, too soon. The team is not tanking, which implies that they’re purposefully losing games, but they are very young, and they are rebuilding. The way I see it, the best thing for the franchise and the team is to lose a lot of close, hard-fought games. Something they did throughout June. Games like their 112-110 loss to Dallas, the 76-72 loss to Golden State, and the 88-83 loss to the LA Sparks were the best of both worlds. If the team is to take two steps back for several steps forward, you want them to be competitive but still lose more often than not.

The Storm are building an incredible foundation. Dick Fain said on Saturday’s broadcast that the future of the franchise is as bright as a supernova. He is exactly right. The potential these players are showing at such a young age is highly encouraging. Now, just imagine if they were to add another Top 3 pick and draft JuJu Watkins, Madison Booker, or Hannah Hidalgo. That could turn Seattle into the next WNBA Dynasty after the Las Vegas Aces.

However, we might be entering a territory where that is no longer a realistic option. I still believe the Storm are unlikely to reach the playoffs this season, partly because nearly 50% of the league will miss the playoffs this year (8 in, 7 out). Despite the two-game win streak, Seattle still has the second-worst record in the WNBA (5-15). But if they keep winning, it’s likely going to cost them a Top 3 and potentially even a Top 5 pick in the draft. If they are going to miss the playoffs, then ideally I’d like them to stay in the Top 4.

So what does it mean if they start winning a lot of games toward the end of this season? Well, they are currently 4.5 games out of the playoffs as of this writing. That is a fair amount of ground to make up, but the team still has 24 games (more than half the season) left to play. Let’s say that they go .500 the rest of the way and finish 12-12 over those 24 games. Their 17-27 record wouldn’t be good enough to make the playoffs, but it could place them as the first or second team out (9th or 10th place). It might ultimately mean that the team misses the playoffs and also misses out on a Top 5 draft pick. They end up selecting 6th or 7th in the 2027 WNBA Draft. In many ways, that is the worst-case scenario.

If that does happen, it means the team is ahead of schedule. It means that the core foundation of Dominique Malonga, Awa Fam, and Flau’jae Johnson is playing above expectations for two rookies and a second-year player. It might mean that the Storm already have everything they need to compete for another WNBA Championship.

They might not need another star player to join this group. They might just need the experience of building, growing, and playing together. That is something they’re going to get a lot more of this year.

And these wins are important. It gives the young players more confidence. As Flau’jae said earlier, their growth is happening in real time. We are literally watching them get better and better as their confidence continues to swell. That is a dangerous thing for the rest of the league. Maybe not this year, but it’s coming sooner than later.

Notes:
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