Storm Put Out the Fire Part 2

Additional thoughts, discussion, and interviews from the Storm's win over Portland.

The Seattle Storm took down their rivals, the Portland Fire, in Seattle’s first home game of the preseason by a final score of 91-81. Rookie Flau’jae Johnson put on a show for the Storm Crazies, leading the team in scoring with 20 points. If you missed it, you can read the full game recap at the link below.

In Part 2, I wrote more on upcoming roster decisions, discussed how Flau’jae Johnson is ready for this moment, and how Dominique Malonga needs a helpful guard. I’ve also included the post-game press conference audio interviews.

Zia Cooke Needs to Make the Team

If you’ve been reading my stuff, you know that I’ve talked about the Storm still having some tough roster decisions ahead, despite having the luxury of these two new developmental spots they can add. Let’s do a quick recap on the roster.

Locks:
Ezi Magbegor, Dominique Malonga, Flau’jae Johnson, Natisha Hiedeman, Jordan Horston, Awa Fam, Jade Melbourne, Stefanie Dolson, Katie Lou Samuelson

That leaves three spots open. The next group that is likely, but not 100% locks, would be Zia Cooke, Lexie Brown, Taina Mair, and Mackenzie Holmes. That’s four players, but only three spots are available.

I feel Mackenzie Holmes is a fairly safe bet because with the Ezi Magbegor injury, and Awa Fam still overseas and could miss regular season games, that leaves Mackenzie Holmes as the primary backup post player on the roster until those two are ready to play. I wrote on social media the other day, Awa Fam’s team, Valencia, is playing in the playoffs in Spain. The earliest their team can be eliminated is May 3rd. The latest Valencia can play is around May 23rd. Awa may arrive in Seattle ahead of their regular season opener on May 8th. Or she could miss the entire month of May (nine regular-season games). We know Magbegor will miss at least all of May (possibly all of June, too). That leaves the team very thin at post depth at the moment. I rank Holmes as the best big off the bench currently, and I think that means they’ll keep her on the main 12-player roster. Holmes is eligible for a development squad spot if the team wants to go that route. There could be some strategy to consider, but I’m not saying that would be the wisest choice.

If Holmes does make the 12-player main roster, that leaves two spots for Zia Cooke, Lexie Brown, and Taina Mair. Lexie Brown has been the team’s starting shooting guard in the preseason since Jordan Horston has been out, and they had to move Flau’jae to the three (small forward). Lexie Brown has a guaranteed contract, which previously would have crippled the Storm’s options, but because Seattle did not re-sign expensive veterans like Nneka Ogwumike or Skylar Diggins, they have enough salary cap space where they could outright release Lexie Brown and still have enough money to pay 12 other players. Brown does some things well. She can shoot. She can attack the rim a little bit. She also cost the Storm two second-round picks (2025 and 2027). I had actually forgotten that they also gave up the 2027 second-round pick for Lexie. That could end up being the 2nd or 3rd overall pick in the second round next year. That trade could put the Storm into the sunk-cost fallacy. Where Seattle’s front office tries to squeeze everything they can out of Brown instead of cutting bait.

If they keep Mackenzie Holmes and Lexie Brown, then the Storm would have to cut either Zia Cooke or first-round draft pick Taina Mair. I feel either would be a massive mistake. I think for two years now, Zia Cooke has shown that she is a better player than Lexie Brown. Even though Brown was known for her three-point shooting, Cooke has been the better shooter. Zia is better at getting to the rim and driving downhill. Cooke is better at bringing the ball up the floor. To Brown’s credit, I’d say she’s a better rebounder. In this game, she had six rebounds, whereas Cooke had zero. Neither are strong rebounding guards historically, but Brown has been better.

I think one of the biggest factors to consider is where the team is currently at. What are the team’s goals this season? And the age of these players. With seven teams missing the playoffs this year, and the Storm losing their top five leading scorers, including four WNBA All-Stars in Nneka Ogwumike, Skylar Diggins, Gabby Williams, and Brittney Sykes, I think it is pretty clear that the team is not looking to compete for a championship in 2026. I’ve said it plenty of times, it’s the best move the franchise could have made. If they aren’t looking to compete for the playoffs this year, then the focus should be on the growth and development of their younger players. Taina Mair is 22 years old. Zia Cooke is 25 years old. Lexie Brown is 31 years old. I can make the argument that Brown could help the team more this season than Taina Mair. I don’t see how anyone could make the argument that Brown would be better than Cooke, and I certainly won’t.

Of the four players I wrote that I believe are competing for the final three spots, I would actually put Zia Cooke as #1. She should be a lock to make the main roster in my eyes from everything I’ve seen in games, from everything I’ve seen in practice, there is no reason she shouldn’t be above the other players competing for the final spots.

If the Storm’s front office wants to get cute and tries to place Taina Mair or even Mackenzie Holmes on the development squad, they can technically attempt to do so. But I wouldn’t recommend it. I think they should keep Mair on the main roster and continue to develop her throughout the season. And I’ll dig more into that in the next section below.

Dom Needs a Helpful Guard

Something that has really stood out to me through two games is Dominique Malonga’s offensive struggles. Malonga shot 3-9 FG against Portland after shooting 3-10 FG against the Valkyries. I think there are two primary reasons for this. With all respect to Stefanie Dolson and Mackenzie Holmes, I think it’s more difficult for defenses that have to worry about defending Dominique Malonga next to Nneka Ogwumike or Ezi Magbegor, compared to worrying about Mack or Stef. The opposing defenses can double-team and send more help to stop Dom because they aren’t as worried about the others. This will ideally change once Awa Fam joins the team and Magbegor returns from injury.

The other main reason for Dom’s early struggles is that the Storm are missing a sharp point guard who can make the right reads quickly and make passes that get through tight windows, which lead to easy baskets for Malonga. Skylar Diggins was excellent at this. Even Gabby Williams and Brittney Sykes had their moments of creating that opened things up for Malonga.

It is up to players like Natisha Hiedeman, Jade Melbourne, and others to improve in this area throughout the season. To be fair to any of the guards on Seattle’s 2026 roster, the team has a lot of new pieces, and they’ve been practicing for less than two weeks. We need to give them time to build a rapport and chemistry together.

With that said, I do want to point out that Taina Mair has led the team in assists in both games. She had four in the first game and five in Wednesday’s contest against the Fire. Mair led the team despite only playing a little over 10 minutes, all in the second half. More notably to me, Mair gave Dom her best pass of the game, finding Malonga rolling to the rim after setting the screen up high. That play happens with 1:20 left in the 3rd quarter if you want to go back and watch it on your DVR. I tried to link the Live Box Score video of this play, but the WNBA website is broken right now, so that’s fun.

I spoke with Coach Sonia Raman after the game about Mair leading the team in assists, and she specifically mentioned this play without me bringing it up, so she clearly took notice of it as well.

Raman told me, “You know, she’s just such a… her tenacity, right? Like, it’s the tenacity, the grit. She starts it on the defensive end. She never, ever takes a play off, you know, picking up full court, and pressuring. We never have to remind her to stay up. She’s up, she’s really trying to set the tone for us defensively. And then her unselfishness on the offensive side, the assists, the playmaking. She’s still learning the system and learning where everybody’s going to be, and even with that, just be able to find Dom on a role. I think she’s starting to understand more and more who her teammates are and how to get them the ball.”

A goal for the Storm this season should be to continue to develop Taina Mair and give her more opportunities to build chemistry with Dominique Malonga.

Flau’jae Johnson is Ready for the Moment

I wrote the other day, maybe it was even before we learned about Ezi Magbegor’s injury, that I believed the Storm’s leading scorer this season would either be Ezi or Dom. With a caveat that it could be Flau’jae Johnson if the team just allowed her to go to work and get her shots up. It’s just the preseason, and it’s only been two games, but Flau’jae Johnson is currently leading the Storm in scoring, averaging 16.0 PPG. She led all scorers with 20 points in the game against Portland on Wednesday night.

Zia Cooke is up there, averaging 13.5 PPG this preseason. It’s why I had to write about her above.

Flau’jae could be the steal of the 2026 WNBA Draft. There is a reason why I wrote many months ago, when we learned that the Storm would draft 3rd overall, that I could see Seattle drafting Johnson third overall. Especially in a scenario where Azzi Fudd and Olivia Miles were off the board. As it turns out, General Manager Talisa Rhea did one even better. She acquired both Awa Fam and Flau’jae Johnson.

Golden State has taken some flak for trading away Flau’jae to Seattle for two second-round picks, but I don’t think the other General Managers should be let off the hook. The Mystics get a little bit of a pass because Lauren Betts is a very talented player. I do believe Flau’jae would have been a better fit for them because they need more creative scorers and outside shooters, and they already have Kiki Iriafen and Shakira Austin, so they didn’t really need Betts. But I also understand that when teams are picking that high in the draft, they should take BPA (Best Player Available). It’s why the Storm selected Awa Fam, even though they already had Ezi Magbegor and Dominique Malonga. The Chicago Sky had no business taking Gabriela Jaquez over Flau’jae Johnson with the 5th overall pick. I like Kiki Rice a lot, and the point guard position is arguably the most important position on the team, so I’ll give Toronto a pass. The Portland Fire were crazy not to take Flau’jae with the 7th overall pick. They are an expansion franchise, and she would help sell the team and bring in fans. Admittedly, foreign players are my weakness when it comes to scouting, but from what I’ve seen, I do not believe Iyana Martín is a better selection than taking Flau’jae.

Teams were crazy to let Jordan Horston slip to #9 in the draft and fall to Seattle. And it feels like it’s happened again with Flau’jae falling to #8 and being traded to the Storm. In two games, Johnson has already shown that she is a three-level scorer. She can knock down the three, pull up from the midrange, and drive to the rim, where she scores or gets fouled. On top of that, she is a marketing and media darling. You can watch or listen to her in the post-game press conference, and you’ll see the energy and positivity that oozes out of her.

Flau’jae Johnson is leading this young Storm roster through the first two games. She is proving that she was ready for this moment. And she is just getting started.

Player Interviews

Coach’s Quotes

Notes:
Thanks to my readers for the great support! Please tell other WNBA fans about my coverage. Please share, retweet, repost, etc., if you enjoy my articles.
Photography Credits: Seattle Storm/WNBA Photography
Thanks to Her Hoop Stats and Across the Timeline for being great resources!

Social Media:
Facebook (NEW): https://www.facebook.com/StormChasersBasketball
Bluesky (@wnbastormchasers.bsky.social)
Threads/Instagram (@WNBAStormChasers)
X/Twitter (@WNBAStormChaser)