Storm Lose 112-110 in OT Part 2

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

Jun 23, 2026

The Seattle Storm (3-15) dropped a thrilling game in overtime by a final score of 112-110. Despite the loss, the team looked fantastic going up against one of the league’s most exciting teams this season, the Dallas Wings (11-6). Dominique Malonga, Natisha Hiedeman, and Awa Fam answered the bell time and time again as the game went right down to the wire. If you missed the game recap, you can read it here.

Wings Win Epic OT Clash 112-110

Storm Chasers w/ Jeff Brown

Jun 23

(Seattle, WA) - On Monday night, basketball fans were treated to a very special performance. The Dallas Wings (11-6) and Seattle Storm (3-15) battled in an intense back-and-forth affair that took more than 40 minutes. The two teams were tied 96-96 at the end of regulation. Paige Bueckers hit a clutch shot with five seconds remaining to send the game to …

Read full story

In Part 2, I wrote about how the Storm can follow the Dallas Wings’ path, how we’re witnessing the future of the league, and how the WNBA Draft is the key to it all. I’ve included the post-game interviews for both the Seattle Storm and the Dallas Wings.

Build Through the Draft, Then Free Agency

We only have to look at the Dallas Wings as an example of how the Seattle Storm should build their roster. The Wings, like the Fever, Aces, and Storm before them, lucked into winning back-to-back #1 overall lottery picks in 2025 and 2026. That landed them impact players Paige Bueckers and Azzi Fudd. Paige specifically is a franchise-changing prospect that several other players in the WNBA want to play with.

Dallas had to have multiple losing seasons to get to where they are right now. They finished 9-31 in 2024 and 10-34 in 2025. Despite going 22-18 in 2023, they were still bad enough to land the #1 overall pick in 2024. That should give the Storm some hope as they finished 23-21 in 2025, but will likely still land a Top 5 draft pick for 2027.

Even with Paige, the Wings managed to win just 10 games one year ago. But that didn’t deter multiple big-name free agents from signing with Dallas this offseason. They were able to sign the reigning Defensive Player of the Year winner, Alanna Smith. The Wings also added multi-talented post, Jessica Shepard. They convinced former #2 overall pick Awak Kuier to re-sign with Dallas after she stayed overseas for the 2024 and 2025 WNBA seasons.

By adding those three post players, the Wings have built a complementary roster. That freed them up to draft Azzi Fudd #1 overall, even though the team desperately needed to add to their front court. Time will tell if it was ultimately the right move or not, but so far, you can’t argue with the results. Dallas has already won more games this season than it did in all of 2025. They still have 27 games left to play.

While Alanna Smith was their biggest free agent acquisition, it’s actually been Jessica Shepard who has had by far the biggest impact. While Smith has struggled on both ends and has also dealt with injuries, Shepard is playing like an All-Star. She’s already produced multiple triple-doubles this season and is averaging 14.2 PPG, 11.1 RPG, and 5.6 APG.

The Wings have put together a blueprint that we’ve seen other teams also utilize to great success. The Indiana Fever have been able to successfully attract multiple free agents over the past two years, after drafting both Caitlin Clark and Aliyah Boston #1 overall in consecutive drafts (2023, 2024). The Las Vegas Aces were able to recruit Chelsea Gray and later Candace Parker after selecting Kelsey Plum, A’ja Wilson, and Jackie Young #1 overall three drafts in a row (2017, 2018, and 2019).

I believe that in due time, Dominique Malonga will be a player that other WNBA players go out of their way to play with. If you’re a talented wing or guard and you know that Seattle is going to have Dom Malonga and Awa Fam for the next several seasons, that should make the Storm an attractive option for free agents.

But they must first build through the draft. That is what they’re doing currently. They drafted Malonga #2 overall and Fam #3 overall in back-to-back years. Plus, with the addition of Flau’jae Johnson, they’re putting together a great young core. If the season ended today, they’d be projected to land a Top 5 pick, and they currently hold the third-best odds at the #1 overall pick. While the losses are tough now, it’ll be worth it in the long run.

The Future is Here

Watching Monday night’s game was a thing of beauty. I was in awe of the performances we saw out on the court. Specifically from the Top 2 picks of the 2025 WNBA Draft. We all knew Paige Bueckers would be special after we watched her grow up in college at UConn. What was most impressive was how she just completely took over the game late. This was after she had a rather ho-hum performance through the game’s first 38 minutes and 48 seconds. Up to that point, she had scored just 10 points, well below her season average of 19.3 PPG. Then she decided she wasn’t going to allow her team to lose the game.

Bueckers was unstoppable to close out this game over the final 1:12 of regulation and the five minutes of overtime. Paige made her final three shots in regulation, two three-pointers and the bucket that sent the game into the extra frame. She then made 4-6 FG in the OT period. She knocked down seven of her final nine field goal attempts, with the majority of those being difficult looks with defenders in her space.

Meanwhile, Dominique Malonga scored 13 points in the 4th quarter and another seven in OT. Dom was dominant throughout pretty much the entire game. She set a new career high with 37 points. It was just an unbelievable performance by the 20-year-old. She’s discussed being more aggressive and looking for the contact instead of running away from it. In the post-game, she talked about that.

Malonga stated, “As I said, in Portland, it’s just when I’m aggressive, and I really, I’m really, really consistent in that aggressiveness. It’s just working. I think, when I don’t fade away, when I go into people’s chests, when I stay in the paint, when I grab people, or a strong rebound, it just helps me. It gets me going. By being aggressive, I know I helped my teammate, I gave them hope, and I set good screens, and just all that, just keeping, like, a high intensity and the aggressive dog game. So I really need to keep that up and be consistent in that.”

Malonga scored a career-high 28 points against Portland last week. And two games later, she scored 37 points against the Dallas Wings. In both games, Dom finished with double-digit rebounds as well. While it’s a lot of pressure to put on her, these are signs of A’ja Wilson-type domination. The truth is that Malonga’s physical gifts and skills make her one of the most gifted prospects. Most players simply don’t have this level of ceiling. There is a reason why multiple WNBA General Managers stated that Dom Malonga had the potential to be the best player in the 2025 WNBA Draft. A draft that obviously also included Paige Bueckers. Paige is a true phenom, so she’ll certainly have something to say about that. But that leads me to my point.

The future of the WNBA has arrived, and we witnessed it on June 22nd. And it wasn’t just Paige and Dom, either. The 2026 Draft Class showed up in a big way as well. Number one overall pick, Azzi Fudd, scored a career-high 26 points on 65% FG shooting. Fudd was very impressive on the defensive end as well, causing problems for Natisha Hiedeman early on and limiting her to five points in the first half. Azzi finished with four steals in the game.

Lastly, the 3rd overall pick of the 2026 draft, Awa Fam, continued to shine as another bright spot for Seattle. She tied her career-high 18 points on 6-8 FG, which included shooting 80% from beyond the arc. Fam’s smooth stroke from deep has turned her into a deadly outside weapon. She will continue to develop her rebounding and defense as she gets older. Fam had a massive block late in the game that sent the Storm crowd into a frenzy.

After the game, I spoke with Zia Cooke about the production and growth she’s seen from Dom and Awa.

“Man, I’ll just say… yesterday, we were in a weight room, and they were the last two, with me in the weight room, and it was just like to see their growth, and to see that they’re getting there, getting stronger, and doing all the little things that they need to do, because they know that we’re gonna need them. It’s important. And they’re the future. Like, they’re the future of this team, and we definitely need them. So it was good to see their growth, and it’s only up here for both of them.” Cooke told me

The WNBA Draft is the Key

If this game taught us anything. If the league is teaching us anything. It’s that the WNBA Draft is the key to teams’ success. It’s absolutely insane to me that Chicago Sky General Manager, Jeff Pagliocca, valued the #3 overall pick in the 2025 draft so little that he traded it away, plus gave up the rights to swap 2027 draft picks to acquire Ariel Atkins. Atkins is (was) a borderline All-Star player. He didn’t believe either Sonia Citron or Kiki Iriafen was worth selecting with the third overall pick. Both players then earned All-Star recognition during their rookie seasons. And they have become the cornerstone pieces that the Washington Mystics franchise is building around.

The past three drafts have been loaded with talent. Caitlin Clark, Cameron Brink, Kamilla Cardoso, Rickea Jackson, Angel Reese, Carla Leite, and Leila Lacan were all selected in the first round of the 2024 WNBA draft. Paige Bueckers, Dominique Malonga, Sonia Citron, Kiki Iriafen, and Aneesah Morrow were all taken in the 2025 draft. Azzi Fudd, Olivia Miles, Awa Fam, Kiki Rice, and Flau’jae Johnson were taken in the 2026 draft. There are additional players from those drafts that have at least carved out bit roles for their respective teams.

I think this just goes to show how talented all of these basketball players are coming out of college and from the International game these days. The NIL (Name, Image, and Likeness) era has created a new phase in the WNBA’s history. The investment into women’s sports, AAU programs, training, travel leagues, etc., is only growing more and more as the popularity of women’s sports increases tenfold.

We are going to continue to see these talented players join the WNBA over the next few years. And they are going to take over for the old guard sooner than maybe a lot of us predicted.

The Storm have positioned themselves to take advantage of this time period. The next championship team is being built through the draft. We saw signs of it on Monday night.

Player Interviews

Zia Cooke and Dominique Malonga: