Storm Fall Short to Mercury 72-68 Part 2
Additional thoughts, discussion, and interviews from Seattle's loss to Phoenix.
The Seattle Storm (3-8) narrowly lost at home to the Phoenix Mercury (3-8) on Wednesday night. There were a lot of bright spots in this game despite Seattle losing their 4th game in a row. If you missed it, you can read the full game recap at the link below.
Storm Lose Close One to PHX 72-68
(Seattle, WA) - The Seattle Storm (3-8) played a hard-fought game against the Phoenix Mercury (3-8) on Wednesday night, but ultimately came up just a little bit short. The veteran Mercury squad outscored Seattle 20-13 over the final 10 minutes to win 72-68. It was Seattle’s fourth loss in a row, but the first one by single digits during this losing stre…
In Part 2, I wrote about how Seattle and Phoenix have similar records but much different long-term outcomes. I discussed the comparisons between Flau’jae Johnson and Kahleah Copper. And questioned whether or not Awa Fam is already Seattle’s best player after just five games in a Storm uniform. I’ve included the post-game audio interviews with players and Coach Raman.
Similar Records But a Major Difference
Both the Seattle Storm and the Phoenix Mercury find themselves near the bottom of the WNBA standings. However, how they’ve gotten there is with two very different paths.
After failing to get out of the first round with an older veteran core, Seattle’s front office decided it was time to go in a new direction. They let Coach Noelle Quinn go and didn’t try to bring back their veteran stars. Nneka Ogwumike and Erica Wheeler signed with the LA Sparks. Skylar Diggins joined the Chicago Sky. Brittney Sykes headed north of the border to the Toronto Tempo. And Gabby Williams went a little further south to the Bay Area to join the Valkyries. Seattle was left with a very young roster. A rebuilding roster. They embraced building around much younger players that included 20-year-old Dominique Malonga, 19-year-old Awa Fam, 22-year-old Flau’jae Johnson, 23-year-old Jade Melbourne, 25-year-olds Jordan Horston and Zia Cooke, and 26-year-old Ezi Magbegor. The vast majority of Seattle’s new core is 25 or younger.
The Phoenix Mercury made some major moves in the 2025 offseason. They swung a major trade for Alyssa Thomas and Satou Sabally, added veterans Sami Whitcomb and then DeWanna Bonner mid-season. They also had surprise additions in Kathryn Westbeld and Monique Akoa Makani. They finished last year with a 27-17 record, which was good for fourth-best in the WNBA. That gave them home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs against the New York Liberty. Something they needed as they outlasted New York 79-73 in the winner-take-all Game 3 of the opening round. They surprisingly took down the #1 overall seed, the Minnesota Lynx, in four games (3-1) in the semi-finals before ultimately being swept by the Las Vegas Aces (0-4) in the WNBA Finals one year ago.
Fast forward to this season, and the Mercury are off to a very rocky start. It started before the season even got underway. They lost Satou Sabally in free agency to the Liberty. Kathryn Westbeld tore her ACL in the final game overseas in Hungary in late April. Sami Whitcomb injured her knee in training camp and has missed the first month of the season. Similar to Awa Fam, Monique Akoa Makani didn’t join the Mercury until late May due to her overseas commitments. DeWanna Bonner is turning 39 later this season, and Father Time remains undefeated. Her production has dropped over the past couple of years, and she can no longer be counted on to produce 20+ point performances regularly. All of this has resulted in the Mercury starting the season (3-8).
Both of these teams are struggling at the beginning of this season. The concern, if you’re a Mercury fan, is that they were expected to be competing for a WNBA Championship, or at least good enough to compete for a Top 4 seed, whether they achieved that or not. They are a veteran-heavy team with Alyssa Thomas, who has led her team to a Top 4 seed or better in each of the past five seasons. If she is unable to do that this season, is that the first sign that Thomas is starting to slow down? AT is 34 years old; she should still have a few more strong seasons ahead of her, but it’s only natural that the production is going to drop. And some of her running mates, like Bonner and Whitcomb, are getting closer to 40. Kahleah Copper is the Mercury’s youngest star player, and even she is 31.
Now compare that to Seattle, whose projected best players are 20 and 19. Yes, they will still need to develop into those star players, but they have the luxury of time ahead of them. Seattle’s offseason moves meant they were looking to start over with a new coach and a young core.
The realistic expectations for Seattle were not to compete for the playoffs, but to develop these young players. The Storm, being 3-8 to start this season, is much more acceptable than an older veteran Mercury team sharing the same record. I think it’s why these losses this season aren’t nearly as frustrating as they would have been one year ago.
The worst spot you can be in professional sports is an aging core of players that is living in mediocrity. The Storm hovered in that area last year, where there was a realistic chance they were going to miss the playoffs, and if they made the postseason, they weren’t going to seriously compete for the championship. It is much better to have a specific direction the team is headed in.
There is often far too much instant gratification that sports fans demand of their teams. Maybe it’s just because we live in a social media and digital age where anyone can make grandiose public statements, even if they really don’t know what they’re talking about. We certainly see that with Caitlin Clark fans, but really, it’s lots of different fans out there. Some out there have unrealistic expectations for the Storm and what the players or team should be doing this early into their rebuild. I’ve seen Li Yueru supporters demanding that she be traded again, which seems to be a common theme with her. Instead of understanding that maybe she isn’t going to have the same role that she would have with the Chinese National Team.
The San Antonio Spurs missed the playoffs six seasons in a row, including Victor Wembanyama’s first two years in the league. Now they are in the NBA Finals. If you prefer a WNBA reference, the Las Vegas Aces missed the playoffs four years in a row, including A’ja Wilson’s rookie season. Even after getting back-to-back-to-back #1 overall picks three years in a row, the Aces still didn’t win the WNBA Championship until their 4th playoff appearance together. Even then, that’s still pretty impressive, but it just goes to show people that building a championship team takes time, even when you have an All-Time great like A’ja Wilson.
For the Mercury, if they miss the playoffs, the team may have to look into going in a completely different direction, where they have to start completely over. If the Storm miss the playoffs, then they get to add another lottery pick to a very talented young core. Their title aspirations may be a few years away, but the building blocks start now.
Flau’jae and Kah
As Flau’jae Johnson was coming out of college and entering the WNBA Draft, my top pro prospect that I compared her to was Kahleah Copper. And it wasn’t just because they’ve been told they look alike.
It had to do with their on-court abilities and how they play the game. Kahleah Copper has become one of the better wings in the WNBA because she is a threat to score from every level. She has elite athleticism where she can drive and get to the rim, she can hit the dribble pull-up, and knock down the three-point shot. Copper is also a plus defender thanks to her size and length (6’1”). It’s really her athleticism that makes her such a dynamic player.
Flau’jae shares a lot of these similar characteristics. Johnson is also extremely athletic. She was probably the most athletic guard/wing prospect coming out of the draft. She uses that athleticism to get to the rim, get through the defense, and make difficult shots. She can knock down the midrange pull-up and can also make shots from beyond the arc.
However, there is one major difference between the two players, and that is that Kahleah Copper is a much larger player. I knew she was taller than Flau’jae (6’1” to 5’10”), but the difference when both of them were lined up next to each other was very noticeable. I wish I could have taken a picture, but media members are no longer allowed to take pictures from press row.
If you were there in person, you probably noticed it too. Copper is a legitimate three (Small Forward), and Johnson’s natural position is the two (Shooting Guard). We did see them match up against one another, but it’s not a surprise that we also saw Jordan Horston (6’2”) with the defensive assignment against Copper during plenty of moments throughout the game. It’s why I think it was a smart decision to move Johnson and Horston back to their more traditional positions with yesterday’s starting lineup.
Overall, if Flau’jae’s career ends up anything like Copper’s, it’ll be a huge success for the Storm. Kahleah is a 4-time WNBA All-Star, WNBA Champion, and WNBA Finals MVP.
Awa Already the #1 Option?
Awa Fam had her 1st WNBA start of her career in her 5th game with the Storm. She played a team-high 33 minutes and scored a career-high 18 points on 9-17 FG shooting. While some of it is out of necessity with the injuries to Dom and Ezi, I think it’s impressive that Fam has led the team in minutes played in each of the last two games. Awa was tied with Natisha Hiedeman for the most shot attempts for Seattle. She was 2nd in shot attempts in the game against Dallas, only behind Flau’jae.
The rookies are getting their opportunities, and that’s important. Fam absolutely has made the most of hers. If you missed the game last night, you should watch her highlights below. She had several impressive plays. Her quick spin-move in the low post for the layup. Her successful pick-and-roll action with Flau’jae feels like it’s critically important for the future of the franchise. She had a pretty hook shot over DeWanna Bonner down low. No move was more impressive than when she crossed over Alyssa Thomas out on the perimeter, used a quick first-step to start to get by Thomas, and then she hit a stepback jumper instead. The smoothness with which she operated on that play had me eyeing some of the other media members to acknowledge that we were watching something special.
Awa is only 19 years old, and yet she looks extremely comfortable out there. She’s obviously been playing professionally in Spain since she was 15, but she is still brand new to the WNBA, playing against veterans and the best players in the world. She doesn’t look intimidated by that at all.
Many claimed that she was a very raw prospect and was more potential than production. It’s still early, but those comments seem to have been grossly exaggerated. And that’s not to say Fam is anywhere near a finished product. Like Dominique Malonga, she isn’t even going to be entering her prime for another 4-6 years. This may be recency bias because of how impressive Fam was in yesterday’s game, but it feels like she has been more polished than Malonga was one year ago during Dom’s rookie season. Her jumper and movement seem a bit smoother than Malonga’s.
While I think Dom’s overall upside is still probably higher because her size is going to allow her to physically dominate a lot of players on the inside, Fam is clearly very talented in her own right.
I think until Malonga and Ezi Magbegor return to the lineup, there is a legitimate argument to be made that Awa Fam is the Seattle Storm’s best player and should be the team’s #1 option. On Wednesday night, she certainly played like it.
Player Interviews
Awa Fam and Natisha Hiedeman:
Coach’s Quotes
Pregame:
Postgame:
Notes:
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Photography Credits: Seattle Storm/WNBA Photography
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Jeff: Completely agree with your observation about Awa appearing more polished than Dom did last year. Awa carries herself in a businesslike manner. Her shot is exquisite; she never looks like she’s laboring when she shoots, unlike a lot of bigs playing on the perimeter. Last night, she was one of the few Storm who was willing to shoot the ball. I’ve seen enough to be convinced that it will very difficult to keep her out of the lineup once/if (ever) we get back to full strength. She is serving notice to Dom and Ezi.
What happens when ezi comes back? I don't wanna see dom or awa come off the bench.