SEATTLE — The Storm are about to play their first season in 10 years without Jewell Loyd in a Seattle jersey. Despite it being a massive season of change in the Emerald City, there is a lot of potential excitement amongst the uncertainty.
Though Seattle will be playing without their franchise stalwart, there is a solid level of continuity within their returning core four of Skylar Diggins, Nneka Ogwumike, Ezi Magbegor and Gabby Williams. All four are all-star, and even All-WNBA, caliber players who have already proven their talent and potential impact to Storm fans and the league.
This year, they have the benefit of building off of last year’s chemistry. Last season, Ogwumike and Diggins were brand new to Seattle, their teammates and head coach Noelle Quinn‘s system. Now they have a full season of experience playing together — half a season in the case of Williams because she joined after the Olympics. Other additions can also benefit from the existing chemistry amongst the core.
“I got back a couple of days ago and I just noticed the energy straight away and just how good it feels,” Magbegor said on media day. “I think just being able to have the core that we have, the leadership, the experience that we have and just be able to kind of transfer that to everyone else … when a foundation is at an organization, it helps with that chemistry process.”
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The Storm’s starting point guard is particularly confident coming into her second season in Seattle after a standout offseason with Unrivaled. Last season, Diggins was returning from the birth of her second child and didn’t really find her groove until halfway through the season. This time she is entering the season confident in herself and her teammates.
“I had a great time at Unrivaled. I think it really got me prepared,” Diggins said. “Everything that I wanted to use it for came to fruition. Obviously, it gave me a lot of confidence. I played really well. I had a really good team.
“But I feel really good coming into this season, especially being my second season here and having some more familiarity with the city, the fans, but also with Noe[lle Quinn] — what she wants, her system, our starters and so on and so forth.”
The Storm will also benefit from having Williams in Seattle for training camp and the start of the season, rather than joining midseason like she had in previous years. Magbegor remarked that her impact has been immediate whenever she joined the team so it is nice to be able to have such an “incredible player” at the start of the season.
“I’m happy to have the chance to start building that chemistry that we already kind of started last summer, and just continue to build on that,” Williams said on media day. “From the jump, I think it’ll allow me to be more of a leader as well, instead of just arriving and having to figure out my footing. Instead, I get to be here. I know Noe[lle Quinn] well, I know the system well, I know the staff well, everyone, and I think I’ll be able to help my teammates more in that aspect.”
Storm fans already have a strong idea of how this group will play together from last season. Outside of those four, the roster contains a lot of exciting possibilities and unknown fits. Diggins, for one, thinks the roster is outstanding.
“Hell yeah, I feel confident. Did you see our roster?” Diggins playfully exclaimed on media day before continuing seriously. “This is definitely the most talented roster I’ve been a part of in my 13 years, 11 on the floor. … Everybody looks really good. The vibes have been really good.”
Oldest and youngest individual players in the league
Alysha Clark may technically be an offseason addition through free agency, but she is far from new to the Storm fans who have welcomed her back with open arms. The announcement of her name in the starting lineup drew big cheers ahead of Sunday’s home preseason game, but the roar of the crowd when she hit her first 3-point attempt of the season in the opening minutes cemented just how much Seattle loves her.
Clark played the first nine years of her career for the Storm, from 2012 until 2020, and won two WNBA championships with the franchise (2018 and 2020). She won the third championship of her career with the Las Vegas Aces in 2023 but is excited about returning home this season.
At 37 years old, Clark is now the oldest active player in the WNBA. Physically you wouldn’t know that, but her words betray her vast experience and winning knowledge. Clark spoke extensively about her leadership role in making sure that culture is the team’s biggest focus throughout the season.
“Being a part of different championship organizations you understand just how important culture is and that accountability factor,” Clark said. “You don’t win a championship on Day 1. You have to do the little things and make sure you take care of that every single day. Everyone sets out and is like, ‘Oh, I want to win a championship, and I want to do this.’ But when Day 87 rolls around, is that still your focus? And the teams that I’ve been fortunate to be a part of winning, it starts on Day 1.”
Different from previous seasons in Seattle, Quinn and her coaching staff are looking for Clark to be more of an aggressive scorer. Throughout her career, Clark has played every role imaginable in the league, though almost always as a passive scorer working off of what her teammates do. The expectation to do more offensively will require a mentality shift. That challenge excites Clark.
“That’s what gets me out of bed everyday is always a challenge and finding ways to conquer that challenge,” Clark said. “I’m excited about the growth and being able to, honestly, have this opportunity.”
Clark is a winner and she wants to do that in Seattle, but she also acknowledged the uncertainty. While Clark played one season with Magbegor when they won the 2020 WNBA Championship and knows Quinn very well as both a player and coach, the rest of the roster in a familiar franchise is new.
“I think we have enough talent on this roster to win a championship, but there’s so many new pieces that have to find that chemistry and gel so we’re taking it one day at a time,” Clark said.
On the opposite end of the age spectrum, No. 2 overall pick Dominique Malonga will be the youngest player in the WNBA in 2025 at 19 years old. Far less is known about how the 6’6 French national’s talent will translate to the WNBA, particularly in her rookie season, but the excitement lies in the limitless potential. A potential which is heightened by her strong character.
“We all know what she can do, but can she evolve? Can she get better? Is she willing to learn? Is she willing to start at zero?” Williams said of her French national team teammate. “It is like she doesn’t care what her role is, at least from me playing with her. She just wants to get better and she wants to improve in any way she can. She’s like a sponge. She’s always asking questions and very easy to give instruction to. So I think that’s going to be really important to her growth here.”
Malonga also promises some pure entertainment value with her joyful personality and enjoyment of dunking, a skill she showed off in her first official practice with the Storm.
Both players will contribute to what is expected to be one of the best defenses in the league. Malonga’s 7’1 wingspan should make her a very effective rim protector while Clark brings the WNBA All-Defensive team talent that caused Storm fans to nickname her ‘The Eraser.’
Contingent of former LA Sparks
Among the offseason additions almost guaranteed to make the roster are three former Los Angeles Sparks players. Two of them, Lexie Brown and Erica Wheeler, had the opportunity to play with Ogwumike in LA before she made the move to Seattle, marking a reunion Ogwumike is very excited for. Both guards provide key, experienced depth for the 2025 Storm.
A seven-year veteran out of Duke, Brown already has a strong idea of her role on the team after being acquired in the three-team trade that sent Loyd to Las Vegas. Shooting is the main skill that Brown brings to a team that lacked 3-point shooting last season. The former Blue Devil has averaged 35.7% from behind the arc over her pro career but shot 39.8% and 41.5% from 3 in 2022 and 2023 respectively.
While Brown’s 3-point shooting will be key to Seattle’s floor-spacing plans, she has also worked on becoming a true three-level scorer, spending the offseason focusing on her midrange shots and being able to operate ball screens better. Overall, Brown is excited to get back on the court and prove herself.
“It’s been a long two years of getting back to myself,” Brown said on media day. “I feel really good, the best I’ve felt since before my [Crohn’s] diagnosis, which is a blessing. … I don’t foresee having to miss any games this season, that’s how good I feel. I have it completely managed.”
Brown also knows she provides another veteran presence and voice but is prepared to contribute any way she can.
“Ultimately just adding energy anywhere they need me to add it — defensively, offensively, on the bench — I’m just here to do whatever they need me to do to help them win,” Brown said.
What role Wheeler will play is still up in the air, as she is very capable of playing both point and shooting guard. After the team’s first preseason matchup, Quinn praised Wheeler’s leadership and the things she has done at a high level in the WNBA for a long time. The team had yet to add Magbegor, Williams and Malonga into the fold at training, so Quinn admitted she is still evaluating but likes how Wheeler can complement Diggins and get her off the ball more.
Originally undrafted out of Rutgers, the nine-year veteran also brings important personality beyond leadership.
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“She is very much like a ball of confetti and we love that,” Ogwumike said of Wheeler after the preseason victory. “I think that she brings an energy. She brings like a beating heart to the team.”
While Wheeler is also a very capable leader, she told Ogwumike that she doesn’t feel the pressure of being the sole veteran leader on this team, instead able to just be herself.
“That’s kind of the type of team we want to have this year. We want everyone to lead in their own way,” Ogwumike said. “It is really refreshing to be on a team with vets that work really hard, with vets that bring something different, each one of them, but then also with vets that you can defer to.”
Wheeler is enjoying playing with a group of veterans like Clark, Diggins and Ogwumike who communicate on such a high-level and take a burden off of her.
“For me, I haven’t even really had to be a leader, so I feel like I’m just sitting in the back enjoying them three lead,” Wheeler said on media day. “It’s super refreshing that I don’t have to have that weight over my shoulder. And then just being able to play loose and also learn from them at the same time because they are great at what they do, especially at communicating.
“So for me, I just think I’m happy that I have that because I’ve always had to be the one to talk up and do all these things. So I’m just happy to have a breath of fresh air and that I can lock in on me and yell all the time like I want to.”
The third former Spark likely to make the opening day roster is Chinese international Li Yueru who was acquired alongside Brown. The 6’7 center provides size and strength at the five position and performed well as a starter against Connecticut in their preseason matchup.
Li scored 15 points, recorded 10 rebounds, one assist and one steal in 19 minutes of play, giving herself a first-half double-double. She did not attempt any 3-point shots but was efficient in the paint, converting six of her eight shot attempts.
“She started at a young age playing pro and now she’s kind of in that age of her career where everything is flourishing,” Quinn remarked postgame. “She’s in amazing shape. The beginning of camp [she] wasn’t really rebounding the ball well but ends the game with a double-double. She’s very smart. She has very good touch. She can pass the ball. We talk about versatility in every aspect of our team, she is one of the bigs that … we wanted because we knew what she had to offer.
“Coming into camp and seeing her on the floor and getting her in our environment, I think it’s good to see that she complements the pieces that we do have.”
Another ACL injury delivers blow to roster
Seattle’s roster situation took a big hit when the team learned that offseason acquisition Katie Lou Samuelson had suffered a torn ACL in her right knee during practice on May 1. The injury was made public two days later.
The season-ending injury has big implications for the overall Storm roster. Because Samuelson was injured in camp while signed to an unprotected contract, rather than a training camp contract, she must be paid her $90,000 salary. Samuelson will take a roster spot and still affect the salary cap while undergoing rehabilitation in Seattle but will be unavailable to play all season.
As a result, the Storm will only have enough cap space at the start of the season to have 10 active players on the roster, with Samuelson the minimum 11th player. At some point midseason the Storm should have the space to sign a 12th player to a rest-of-season contract. Any injuries that bring them below 10 active and available players allows them to sign additional players to hardship contracts to bring them to 10.
It is a very long season for such a small roster, so any injuries could have an outsized impact.
Samuelson is the third Storm player to be ruled out for this season due to an ACL tear. Nika Mühl suffered the injury playing overseas while Jordan Horston was injured playing in Athletes Unlimited. Mühl and Horston were thus able to have their contracts suspended for the season, meaning they don’t take a roster spot and their salaries don’t count towards the cap. Though their absence will be felt on the court, their injuries don’t impact the roster size.
On top of the salary cap and roster hit, the Storm were looking forward to Samuelson making a big impact on the court.
“Honestly it’s devastating news about Lou,” Quinn said. “She was having such a great camp, in great shape, her spirit was great, shooting the ball really well and just able to plug some holes that we have — obviously the deficiency from 3 was big but defensively the versatility, I knew that this was going to be a great year for her. So first of all, heart goes out to her.”
The team knows Samuelson can’t be directly replaced, so they are focusing on utilizing the rest of the roster to figure out some lineups. Quinn specifically mentioned Clark’s versatile ability to slide between the three and four positions as useful in this quest.
Last roster spot up for grabs
Nine of Seattle’s 10 available roster spots are essentially locked in, leaving one spot remaining for several players to fight for. The Storm have several factors to consider while deciding between Zia Cooke, Mackenzie Holmes, Serena Sundell and Brianna Fraser.
“First and foremost, culture fit is going to be important,” Quinn said after the team’s first preseason game, explaining what they were looking for. “Having good people in here who are committed to the buy in, wanting to win, wanting to work hard. And I think all of our candidates exemplify that.
“The next is the ability to complement the pieces that we have. Stretching the floor, being able to shoot, attacking. I think one of the biggest things is defensively, are you physically capable? Do you have an ability to step up, guard your yard and obviously play team defense? So a multitude of things, but the fit of the system does matter.”
Sometimes minutes in preseason games mean nothing significant, but in this case they may indicate which players are best positioned to make the roster. The two players who played the fewest minutes, Madison Conner and Jordan Hobbs, were waived on Tuesday. Fraser got 11 minutes of game action, Holmes played 20 minutes and Sundell played only a minute less. Cooke was the first player off the bench and played 25 minutes.
Quinn told media postgame that Cooke being the first substitution was a testament to what they had seen from her during training camp. The coach praised Cooke for coming to market early and spending a lot of time in the weight and film rooms, showing her desire and effort.
“There’s this want that she has,” Quinn said. “She knows that she’s trying to earn a spot and she’s not taking it for granted. Defensively, I’ve been challenging her to be physical. … She’s a young player who really, really wants to make a team and an impact in this league. She’s done really well in camp and it showed today as well.”
Another player who looked impressive in the preseason game was Holmes. The Indiana Hoosiers’ all-time leading scorer recorded nine points on an efficient 4-of-5 shooting and grabbed eight rebounds. Holmes was selected 26th overall by Seattle in the 2024 WNBA Draft but chose to sit out to get surgery on her knee.
“Her knee is healthy and she looks in great shape,” Quinn said after the performance. “She was able to learn our concepts really quickly and get acclimated really quickly. … She’s very physical. She can rebound. … She’s very efficient in the paint.”
Thinking more about fit, it is likely that Seattle uses the last roster spot for a pure guard or someone who can play the three/four like Clark. Assuming a starting lineup of Diggins-Williams-Clark-Ogwumike-Magbegor, Seattle’s backup posts are Li and Malonga while Wheeler and Brown provide relief for two of the three guards. Samuelson would have provided another three-four player like Clark.
There are no real Clark-esque three-four players in the current pool. Cooke is a pure, 5’9 shooting guard entering her third year as a professional. Holmes is a 6’3 traditional post player with a currently insufficient 3-point field-goal percentage for spacing the floor. Fraser, the same height as Holmes, played with Li in Turkey but has yet to make a regular season WNBA roster since graduating in 2019.
Sundell is the most versatile of the group as a tall, 6’2 point guard who can also play a little more off the ball. Quinn said that the K-State product has shown herself to be a high-level player in camp, very cerebral, and that she can play multiple positions.
There is also the possibility of claiming a player off of waivers to come in and take the spot. One player who could fit is Bree Hall, a two-time NCAA Champion out of South Carolina. Recently waived by the Indiana Fever, Hall is a dogged defender and a good 3-point shooter who can provide the floor spacing Seattle wants. However, Seattle has not been big on picking up waived players in recent years.
The Storm have until just before the regular season opens on May 16 to finalize their opening day roster. How they will round it out and if it will change during the season remain to be seen. Some of these players may also return later in the season on hardship or rest-of-season contracts.
Players praise coaching staff
The organization was rattled in the offseason by an investigation into allegations of bullying and harassment by the coaching staff, instigated at least in part by a complaint filed by Loyd. The Storm’s outside investigation concluded having found no violations. Now it seems the coaching staff has the full support of the players as they have been quick to praise Quinn and her staff during the preseason.
“Noey was the main reason why I wanted to come,” Clark said of her decision to return to Seattle. “Noey is a great friend of mine, prior to her being the head coach here. And she’s somebody that I love dearly. I love who she is as a person. I love her character as a person, and what she’s able to do as a coach.”
Ogwumike identified people like Quinn, general manager Talisa Rhea and ownership as big reasons why she loves this organization.
“I preached this last year and it still stands, this organization, we want to be able to match on the court what’s upstairs,” Ogwumike said. “And Noelle, having them support her is something that has been really big for me. And the staff that she has as well in her own coaching staff, and the team that they put together … I haven’t ever felt as supported as I have being here in Seattle.”
Williams, who was drafted No. 4 overall by Chicago in 2018 and joined the Storm in 2022, struggled to find her footing in her first years as a pro. Last year, she won an Olympic silver medal with France and posted some of the best numbers of her WNBA career. Williams gives the Storm organization a lot of credit for that improvement and Quinn in particular.
“She’s just believed in me since Day 1, even through the harder times I haven’t felt like she ever lost confidence in me or belief in me, and that’s allowed me to maybe get through some harder times,” Williams said. “I also think just the way her brain works is kind of how my brain works. So it’s just very, very easy for me to work with her and to understand her. It’s very clear, whatever she asks of me, there’s never any miscommunication. And I think that’s why I always want to come back and play for her.”
Quinn knows she is not a finished product and is always looking to improve but she still feels well prepared for this season with her experience and coaching staff surrounding her.
“I feel great,” Quinn said. “Sky[lar Diggins] talked about this team being very talented, I agree. And where I’m at in the season of life, I feel like I’m ready to roll as it relates to leading this group.”
Want more team-by-team previews for the 2025 WNBA season? Read them all here!
