Storm Fall to Fever 78-74 Part 2

Additional thoughts, interviews, and discussion on Seattle's loss to Indiana.

The Seattle Storm lost another close game on Sunday afternoon. This time it was a 78-74 defeat to the surging Indiana Fever. That happened even though Caitlin Clark remains out with a groin injury. It was Seattle’s second loss in a row and third over their last four games. If you missed it, you can read Part 1 - the full game recap here.

In Part 2, I wrote about the negative trends happening with the Storm, their issues defending the paint, and their three-point shooting woes. I also discussed more thoughts on a possible trade before the deadline, and talked more about Seattle’s future (Malonga). I’ve also included a few written quotes, plus the full post-game press conference audio and video interviews.

Negative Trends

Under Coach Noelle Quinn, the Storm have had a history of struggling during the second half of their seasons. In 2021, they went 2-5 in the month of August after returning from the Olympics. In 2022, they were a good team, and outside of a poor road record in July (3-5), they played well. In 2023, they were really bad overall and had a losing season every single month. We won’t factor that in. But in 2024, they struggled again after the Olympic break. They lost four of their six games in August of 2024.

That negative trend seems to be happening again as Seattle has lost six out of their last 10 games. There are only three other teams in the WNBA with worse records over that period of time. That would be the Dallas Wings (8-21 overall) and 2-8 over their last 10. The Chicago Sky (7-21) have lost eight games in a row and are 2-8 over the past 10 games. And the Connecticut Sun (5-22), who are 3-7 over their last 10.

Over the past month, the Storm are playing like one of the worst teams in the league, and they’ve lost a lot of their games to other teams with losing records. Instead of building momentum towards the playoffs, they’re running out of steam again.

Last year, there was a lot of chaos and drama behind the scenes that resulted in Jewell Loyd demanding that either Coach Quinn be fired or for the Storm to trade her to another team. The organization opted to trade Loyd. But I don’t think chaos or chemistry issues are affecting Seattle this season.

It could be the fact that Quinn overplayed her starters throughout the early months, and now they are struggling. Outside of Nneka’s unbelievable performance against Los Angeles, it feels like most of the other starters are struggling as of late. Erica Wheeler isn’t hitting as many of her shots. Gabby’s outside shot hasn’t been falling (more on that below). Skylar seems to be getting beaten off the dribble more often. Diggins seems to be frustrated on both ends.

Maybe the problem is roster construction. Alysha Clark can’t buy a basket lately and has lost a couple of steps on the defensive end. Lexie Brown has been super inconsistent. Tiffany Mitchell has brought some hustle and energy, but also hasn’t been very efficient when trying to score. Zia Cooke and Mackenzie Holmes aren’t getting any minutes.

Whether it’s coaching, fatigue, aging veterans, or poor roster construction, the Seattle Storm are struggling a lot lately. It’s also really changed the perspective and outlook of this season. After they had big wins against the Minnesota Lynx and New York Liberty, it felt like they might have a legitimate chance to compete for a WNBA Championship. But at this point, they look like they could fall to the 7th or 8th seed by the end of the season and will likely get swept in the first round of the playoffs for the second year in a row.

Paint Problems

The Seattle Storm have really struggled defensively over the weekend to defend the paint. They gave up 60 points inside the paint against the Los Angeles Sparks in a double-overtime game. They followed up that performance by giving up 52 points in regulation against the Indiana Fever. It’s a noticeable problem that is costing the Storm games. They need to figure out how to fix their defensive issues.

I spoke with Nneka Ogwumike about this and what stood out to her.

Ogwumike said, “I mean, I think that we can, not I think, I know that we can be better at the point of attack, stopping the ball. That's first and foremost. I think at times we get a little bit overstimulated and anxious around trying to stop everything. It starts with the ball. And so whatever action is happening on the ball is what trickles throughout a defensive possession. So just being sharper at the point of attack, which I think we did a little bit better today, especially in the second half, is something we can continue to do to secure some wins.”

I talked to Coach Noelle Quinn about the mistakes they’re making with their defense and how they can stop giving up so many paint points. I also asked her if she felt they could utilize a lineup with Nneka Ogwumike, Ezi Magbegor, and Dominique Malonga together at the same time. She declined to comment on a three-post lineup, but answered the first part of my question.

Quinn replied to me, “I would address the points in the paint. It's, you know, a couple of things. Disrupting. Natasha got like some dump downs in the paint. I think from our over rotations and over help. Some of that was there and then a lot of that is some post touches and some of that is you know, having some resistance at the point of attack with our ball screen stuff. And the third part about it is just KYP and guarding our yard one-on-one. So a lot of things are kind of happening from that standpoint. When Ezi's not on the floor, it's kind of hard. We don't have complete rim protection, but I think we have to get sharper with our point of attack defense.”

Three-Point Woes

One of the main reasons the Storm lost this game was because of how poorly they performed as a team from the three-point line. As I wrote in Part 1, the Storm missed five three-pointers in roughly the final minute of the game. Had one of those shots gone down, they might have won the game or at least sent it to overtime. Seattle missed 13 of their 15 three-point attempts against Indiana.

At one point, the Storm led the entire WNBA in three-point shooting. I believe around that time, they were shooting above 37% as a team. But they have fallen off quite a bit. As of today, the Storm are down to 33.4%. Seattle is now ranked 7th out of 13 in three-point shooting. They’re ranked 9th in the league in three-point field goal attempts. But that is similar to when they were #1 in three-point percentage (I think they were around 10th or 11th).

Gabby Williams has seen the most fluctuation. During May, Gabby shot 42% from long distance (by far a career-high). In June, that dropped to 28%. It’s fallen even further to 17% throughout July. In four out of her last five games, Williams has gone 0-9 FG on her three-point attempts. At one point this season, the Gabby was shooting above 45% from three, but that’s fallen to 32% now.

It is great to see Gabby be more confident in her shot. Despite her numbers dropping, Williams must continue to stay aggressive and look for her shot. Seattle’s best chance to find success for the remainder of this season is improving their three-point shooting. If Williams and others aren’t able to turn things around, the losing will continue.

Worth Trading Away the Future?

The Storm’s front office has a bit of a dilemma ahead of them over the next couple of days. They have until August 7th, 12:00 PM local time to decide on whether they want to try and make a trade to bolster the 2025 roster.

My friend Kevin Pelton wrote for ESPN about a potential Marina Mabrey trade to Seattle. I talked about that idea a couple of games ago, which you can read here.

The front office has a tough decision to make. The 2025 Seattle Storm are headed in the wrong direction as I’ve written about above. They’ve actually been one of the WNBA’s worst teams over the past month. And yet, this WNBA season is an interesting one. If I had to put money on it, I would expect the Minnesota Lynx and New York Liberty to rematch in the WNBA Finals, with one of them becoming the champion again. However, Breanna Stewart has injured her knee and is expected to miss at least a month. Napheesa Collier, the presumptive MVP, just badly injured her ankle while her team was up by 40 points against the Las Vegas Aces on Saturday.

If Stewie and Phee are both hurt, then really any of the top six WNBA teams could potentially win the Championship this year. If Minnesota and New York are not fully healthy, I don’t think it’s crazy to think that Indiana, Atlanta, or possibly even Phoenix could win the Championship this season. If you had asked me a month ago, I would have included the Storm in that list as well.

As it stands now, I don’t think the Storm can win the Championship even if the Lynx and Liberty aren’t at 100%, because I don’t see Seattle beating a healthy Indiana team in a series. They probably don’t beat the Dream either. But would my opinion change if Seattle added another offensive weapon? If they were to add another three-point shooter who can also create their own offense? Even if they can be streaky, both Marina Mabrey and Arike Ogunbowale could fit that need.

We know the Dallas Wing are having a fire sale. They’ve already traded away NaLyssa Smith and DiJonai Carrington. They’re looking to acquire younger players and draft assets for the future to build around Paige Bueckers. Would they be willing to part with Arike Ogunbowale for one of Seattle’s first-round picks? It’s certainly possible. Could Connecticut do the same with Mabrey?

I don’t know if adding one of those players could make the difference for the Storm. In either scenario, Seattle would have to trade two players (Alysha Clark and one other) and at least one first-round draft pick.

I am not a fan of the Storm parting ways with their first-round draft picks because I am such a believer in building through the draft. But does that decision change if those draft picks are no longer looking as valuable as they did just a few weeks ago? Not that long ago, it appeared that the Los Angeles Sparks were almost certain to miss the playoffs and that the Las Vegas Aces were maybe a 40/60 or even 50/50 chance to also miss the playoffs. If both had, that would have meant Seattle was in line to have two lottery draft selections.

Unfortunately for Seattle, the Sparks have won seven out of their last 10 games and six of their last seven. They look like they’ve turned things around and probably will sneak in the playoffs, even if it’s the final spot as the 8th seed. Due to the WNBA adding two expansion franchises in Toronto and Portland, the non-lottery picks are now a lot less valuable. The 8th seed used to still be a Top 5 draft pick. But now if a team finishes 8th, they will have the 8th pick in the draft.

A month ago, it looked like the Storm might have the 2nd, 5th, and 12th overall picks in the upcoming 2026 WNBA Draft. Realistically, it might be something more like the 8th, 9th, and 10th picks. If that is the case, it might be easier to justify parting with one of those picks to acquire Mabrey or Ogunbowale.

The way the Storm have been playing lately and with knowing how last year played out, I would be tempted to keep all three draft picks and seriously consider blowing the entire thing up and building through the draft. But I wouldn’t fault them if they make a move for Arike or Marina as long as they are keeping two of their first-round picks.

Dom’s Team?

I just wrote about this a few games ago, but I’m doubling down. I asked whether the Storm can afford to keep Dominique Malonga out of the starting lineup in 2026.

After watching this game against the Indiana Fever, my next thought is, how soon does this become Dom’s team? That might seem like an absurd question about a 19-year-old who hasn’t started a single game in the WNBA. But that’s where my brain has gone.

Here are some of Malonga’s best plays from the game.

Dom’s pretty turnaround fadeaway jumper.

Strong drive and finish with the left hand.

Malonga’s impressive defense against Aliyah Boston.

Scoring against Aliyah Boston down low.

It was notable that Malonga played over Ezi Magbegor during the clutch moments of the 4th quarter. After the game, I spoke with both Dom and Nneka about Malonga stepping up in the big moments and going against Aliyah Boston.

Ogwumike told me, “Yeah, I mean, every day is a different Dom. In many different ways, wise beyond her years. She understands the game very well. There's also a maturity about how she approaches the game. And I can tell that she wants to learn, you know, but I'm also learning from her. So I'm grateful that I'm starting to develop kind of like a post or a front court relationship with me, Dom, and Ezi.”

Malonga added, “For me it's just about going in the game whoever is the opponent and just bringing the energy that I can bring they're not asking much from me they're just asking me to bring the energy go out there be 100% so that's what I try to do and yeah be locked in on the defensive side, doing what I can bring in when it's game like this, when it's tough games, I love the fact that they start trusting me more and more and keep me on the court in difficult minutes. So I really love it, and I really love the support from my postmates and everybody that they're always behind me and cheer for me. So yeah, it's just a great environment here to grow.”

For many years, it was Sue Bird’s team. Then it became Bird’s team with her young stars, Jewell and Stewie. After Bird’s retirement and Stewie’s departure, it became Loyd’s team. And now it’s Nneka and Skylar’s team. But for how long? Diggins and Ogwumike are at the tail-end of the prime of their careers. If Seattle doesn’t get past the first round of the playoffs again this year, how much longer should they go in this direction?

Back in December, I wrote about the idea of the Storm moving into a rebuild and building the next team around Ezi Magbegor. I think that’s worth going back to read if you didn’t previously.

We can take a lot of what I said there and replace Ezi’s name with Dominique Malonga’s. I don’t believe Dom is ready to take over as the leader of the team. But I do believe that she has the talent to be the next face of the franchise. And the Storm should start mapping out how they want these next few years to go.

Do they want to keep Nneka and Skylar around for another year or two, while building up the youth, Malonga, Horston, Magbegor, and any 2026 rookies? That would allow Dom to continue to learn under Ogwumike’s guidance for another couple of years.

Or should they just blow the whole thing up, tank for a couple of seasons, secure another couple of lottery picks, and do a full youth movement rebuild right away?

Post-Game Press Conference

Credit to Cam Buford (Voice of the Fans) for sending me Coach Stephanie White’s press conference for me to share.

Player Interviews

Coach’s Quotes

Notes:
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Photo Credits: Seattle Storm/WNBA Photography

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