Fever Topple Storm 89-78 Part 2
Additional thoughts, discussion, and interviews from Seattle's loss to Indiana.
The Seattle Storm (1-3) fought hard, but couldn’t overcome the odds as they fell to the Indiana Fever (2-2) by a final score of 89-78. If you missed it, you can read the full game recap at the link below.
In Part 2, I wrote about how Awa Fam is finally on her way and what that could mean for the Storm. I discussed some positive signs from Grace VanSlooten and Seattle’s ability to get to the foul line. I’ve also included the post-game audio interviews for you to listen to.
Coming Soon … Awa Fam
Good news, everyone! Awa Fam’s overseas season has come to a riveting end as Valencia Basket won their fourth Liga Femenina Endesa (Spanish league) Championship in the final seconds of their game played early Sunday morning.
The team still hasn’t confirmed exactly when she’ll arrive in the United States and join the Storm, but I’d say there is a very high chance that she’ll make her WNBA debut during Seattle’s upcoming four-game homestand. The Storm will be in Seattle from 5/18 through 5/27. I don’t expect her to play in Wednesday’s game against the Connecticut Sun (5/20), but ideally will suit up for one of their games on 5/22 or 5/24. Hopefully, there won’t be any Work Visa issues like what they went through with Nika Mühl. Dominique Malonga never had those issues, so they should be good. I believe that was more related to Mühl having a school Visa to attend an American college and then needing a work Visa to play for the Storm.
Awa Fam’s arrival comes not a moment too soon, as the Storm are ultra-depleted by injuries to Ezi Magbegor, Katie Lou Samuelson, and Dominique Malonga. Malonga suffered a concussion during Wednesday’s game against the Toronto Tempo. Sadly, this was her second concussion in roughly the span of two months. She had one playing in the FIBA World Cup Qualifiers on March 13th in a game against Colombia. Brain injuries are obviously no joke, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Malonga misses more than just this one game against the Indiana Fever. The two concussions in such a short amount of time are not ideal, and the team’s doctors should be extra cautious with her. As of this writing, the Storm still have 40 games remaining on their schedule. There is zero reason to rush her back before it is safe to do so.
If Malonga misses at least a couple of weeks, I think there is a high probability that they just throw Awa Fam straight into the fire. She may have a few days to relax at home after winning her championship before flying to the USA. Or a few days to rest while getting acclimated to a new country, and a new city in Seattle. But I think that once they activate her for game day, it could be go time from the jump.
The team could insert the third overall pick from the 2026 WNBA Draft straight into the starting lineup if they wanted to. She could play next to Stefanie Dolson at the four (power forward) if Malonga remains out with a concussion. If Dom comes back sooner than expected, they could pair the two young post players together and bring Dolson off the bench.
Dolson has played well, filling in for the injured Ezi Magbegor, and she is one of the team’s primary veteran leaders. There is a scenario where I could see them playing a three-big lineup with Dolson, Malonga, and Fam. In that scenario, they would likely bring Jordan Horston off the bench, as Jordan is still on a minutes restriction after coming back from a torn ACL.
I think expectations for Fam should remain in check for the 19-year-old. Similar to Dominique Malonga last season, she is probably going to have games where she’s scoring four points and grabs 3-4 rebounds. And then we might get another game where she’s scoring 10-15 points, showing off her tantalizing potential, and the reason why there was a debate that she could be drafted #1 overall. Reviewing her box scores from the Liga Femenina Endesa playoffs shows exactly that. She finished the championship game with 6 points and 4 rebounds. But in the final game of the semifinals, she produced 17 points and five rebounds. And another playoff game with 15 points and four rebounds.
Fam’s potential and development throughout the season is one of the larger storylines surrounding the team this season. That and pairing her with Dominique Malonga to become the youngest frontcourt duo in WNBA history. We’ve already seen some fun moments early on this season with Flau’jae Johnson. It won’t be long now, Storm fans, Awa Fam is coming soon!