Storm Lose 79-56 to Wings Part 2

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

Jun 02, 2026

Seattle’s offense couldn’t get going, and that resulted in another tough loss for the Storm (3-7). This time to the Dallas Wings by a final score of 79-56. Despite some positive plays from rookies Flau’jae Johnson and Awa Fam, Seattle didn’t have enough to overcome a good Wings team. If you missed it, you can read the full game recap at the link below for Part 1.

Storm Lose Ugly to the Dallas Wings 79-56

Storm Chasers w/ Jeff Brown

Jun 2

Storm Lose Ugly to the Dallas Wings 79-56

(Arlington, Texas) - The Seattle Storm (3-7) couldn’t get anything going on the offensive side of the court for the entire 40 minutes of action in Dallas on Monday evening. Seattle scored just 25 points in the first half and was held under 50 points until less than two minutes were remaining in the game. Despite a solid defensive effort, the offense was…

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In Part 2, I wrote more about Seattle’s offensive struggles, talked about how Dallas Wings wins benefit Seattle, and praised both Awa Fam and Azzi Fudd. I’ve included quotes and the audio interviews from the post-game press conferences. And as a bonus, I was able to record the Wings post-game interviews and have included those as well.

Offensive Struggles

Without presumed starters Ezi Magbegor and Dominique Malonga, the Seattle Storm (3-7) continue to struggle on offense. It was Seattle’s third game in a row where they failed to score even 75 points. In their last three games, Seattle has tallied 56, 72, and 64 points. You won’t win any WNBA games with those point totals. Especially in this era, where more teams are scoring 100 points on any given night.

Three WNBA teams currently average more than 90 points per game, which includes the Indiana Fever (91.8), the Las Vegas Aces (91.0), and the Los Angeles Sparks (90.3). There are five additional teams (8 total) that score at least 85.0 PPG. The Seattle Storm are second-to-last and one of only two WNBA teams that average fewer than 80.0 PPG. They are currently around 76.5 PPG, which is only ahead of the Connecticut Sun (75.6).

Unsurprisingly, Seattle also ranks 14th in overall OFF RTG. The OFF RTG is how much a team scores per 100 possessions. Before Monday’s game, the Dallas Wings led the league at 112.7. Seattle was at 98.9, and that’ll go even lower after Monday’s data is updated.

Seattle lost their top five scorers from last season. Several talented veterans, including Nneka Ogwumike, Skylar Diggins, and Brittney Sykes. It was always likely that the team’s offensive production was going to drop this season. But it feels like the injuries to Ezi and Dom have really hurt.

One has to believe that the team’s offense will pick up as the season progresses, and after they get those players back. But that could still be a while before that happens, at least in Magbegor’s case, where we were told she would be re-evaluated after around two months. Hopefully, Malonga will be able to rejoin the team sooner than that, but that is certainly no guarantee as of this writing.

In the interim, what can Seattle do? I think a lot of it has to come down to the Storm’s point guards. Natisha Hiedeman and Jade Melbourne are both having solid seasons. If their season averages held strong throughout the rest of the year, both players would set new career-high averages in both points and assists. Hiedeman is averaging 12.8 PPG and 3.6 APG, while Melbourne is at 10.2 PPG and 3.9 APG.

It’s great that they’ve increased their production from previous seasons, but Seattle needs them to do more. Most specifically, Seattle has not been effective with a lot of their pick-and-roll reads. There are times when I’m seeing openings to get the roller the ball, and the ball isn’t coming to them. There are too many times when the pass needs to be made, and it either never arrives or it’s too late, and the possession ends in a turnover.

Right now, the Storm are dead last in team assists per game. Entering Monday night, they averaged a league-worst 17.4 APG. That will only go down after their 11-assist performance against the Wings.

I spoke with Coach Raman after the game about the team’s offensive struggles as of late.

“I think that we’ve struggled to put the ball in the basket for the last couple of games on the road here. We need to be better in that department. We have gotten a little stagnant, and I need to make sure that I’m helping them, you know, in that area with our vantage creation and maintaining that advantage and getting to their next action. I’ll go back and look at the film and try to find things that I can just continue to emphasize, but also just maybe simplify in certain areas.” Raman told me.

“But, I do think that the last couple of games, we’ve gotten some really good looks. And if we’re going to shoot the way we did, I think the biggest takeaway for me is that I would have liked to have gone to the glass a little bit more, and tried to get more 2nd chance points ourselves.” She added.

Percy Allen also spoke to Flau’jae after the game about the offense’s struggles. She said, “The ball is not going in the basket. I think we’re getting a lot of good attempts. We have to be more disciplined and finishing. But, yeah, we got to put the ball in the basket. We shot 32% a night from the field. We shot 21 (percent) from the three. They shot 35, and they shot 20, know what I’m saying? We played good defense, but our offense, we got to get some motion going. Be more aggressive.”

Dallas Winning is Helpful

I don’t want to spend too much time talking about next year’s draft until we’re much further into the season. Even though I believe most of us realize this is expected to be a tough season for the Storm, I would still prefer to write about the young players’ growth and development rather than about the team getting a top draft pick next season. But because the Storm just played Dallas, I thought this was worth bringing up.

From an outside rooting interest, the Dallas Wings winning a lot of basketball games this season is helpful for Seattle’s increased lottery odds. The Wings finished tied with the Chicago Sky in 2025 with a league-worst record of 10-34. In a perfect world, both Dallas and Chicago would make the playoffs this year. But realistically, it’s more likely to be Dallas that accomplishes that feat.

The two-year lottery rule only comes into play if the team misses the playoffs during that current calendar year. Therefore, if the Wings (and/or Sky) make the playoffs in 2026, it doesn’t matter that they went 10-34 in 2025 because they won’t be eligible for one of the top two picks in the WNBA Draft.

As things stand today, the Connecticut Sun have the best odds to land the #1 pick. The Washington Mystics are also well-positioned because they own the swap rights with the Chicago Sky, and currently, Chicago has the second-best odds at the #1 pick (which would be sent to the Mystics). The Mystics are also ranked third among the (current) non-playoff teams, so they are in a really good position. However, this could change as I expect both Chicago and Washington to get more wins as the season progresses, even if neither ends up as a playoff team.

Currently, the Seattle Storm are essentially tied with the Los Angeles Sparks for the 4th-best odds. Whether LA makes the playoffs or not, I would expect them to finish with a better record than Seattle. From my vantage point, I’d say the best Seattle can finish would be the second-best odds, but realistically, it’ll probably be between 3rd and 5th. Even still, we’ve seen plenty of teams with the third-best odds win the #1 overall pick in previous draft lotteries. And if the Storm can stay in the Top 5, they should be able to add another high-quality piece.

Azzi Versus Awa

I thought in this game, we got glimpses of why both rookies have the chance to be pretty special. Seattle actually did a pretty good job in limiting Azzi Fudd to nine points, considering she had scored 22 points and 24 points in back-to-back contests before facing the Storm on Monday. Fudd had also scored 12 points or more in four of her last five games before this game. But she has shown her incredible efficiency, and that continued against the Storm, where she made 4-7 FG (57%). Even when she shot high volume against Las Vegas and New York, she still shot 60%.

Honestly, it was some of Fudd’s defense in this game that may have impressed me the most. From this online clip below, you can see how good she was defensively in spots. She nearly forced both Hiedeman and Melbourne into turnovers on the same play, and then forced Jordan Horston into a tough contested shot.

Steve Jones@stevejones20

Look at Azzi Fudd getting it done on both ends of the floor.

1:18 AM · Jun 2, 2026 · 31.2K Views

5 Replies · 125 Reposts · 697 Likes

For Awa, I would say she had the better overall game over Fudd, but played more minutes (31 to 24). Fam finished with eight points, seven rebounds (three offensive), and four steals. This was only her 4th game in the WNBA. She will continue to get better. And if Dom and Ezi are both going to be out for even longer, then Awa is going to get plenty of playing time. Not only was Monday night the first time Fam had played over 30 minutes in a game (in the WNBA), but it was the first time she had played more than 25 minutes. And because the team is playing and or traveling every other day, she’s only been able to participate in one or two practices since joining the team.

Coach Raman was asked about Fam’s increased role as she gets more experience with the team.

“Yeah, I mean, you know, 31 minutes today. I think that’s a good place for her to be if the situation calls for it. Definitely wanted to see her, get a little bit of a longer run, longer stretch. The reps that she’s getting in games are really how she’s learning, ‘cause we haven’t had a lot of practice opportunities. We just had one with her here. So, you know, just getting her these reps through games and getting her comfortable with her teammates, but just trying to be intentional about ramping her up little by little. Today was obviously a little bit of a combination of that minutes-wise, but there are still things that we want to continue to do, ramp-up-wise, that aren’t just minutes related.” Raman stated.

One last thing about Azzi versus Awa after Round 1. I do think both teams will be very happy with their selections long-term (Minnesota, too, for that matter). But it is important to remember that Awa Fam is 19 years old. Azzi Fudd will turn 24 at the end of this calendar year. Fam will turn 20 in a couple of weeks, but Fudd is nearly four full years older than her.

It’s crazy, but Awa and Dominique Malonga both won’t even enter their primes for another 5+ years. That’s why it can be frustrating to watch Storm losses this season. And it can be frustrating that the team isn’t finding more on-court success. Or to acknowledge that the roster is still definitely missing at least a couple of pieces. But fans just need to remember that Rome wasn’t built in a day. Championship rosters take time to build and develop. Fans can take solace in Seattle’s foundation, with Dom, Awa, and Flau’jae, which is a pretty solid starting point.

Player Interviews

Storm Awa Fam and Flau’jae Johnson: