SEATTLE — The Seattle Storm have just four games left to play this season after long ago being the first team eliminated from playoff contention. Despite the lack of stakes, this final stretch is an important time for the young team to keep growing and end on a high note.
“I think kind of just carrying into next season, just doing things that we’ve talked about,” point guard Natisha Hiedeman said at practice Monday about what the team is working on to end the season.
Of the team’s 12 rostered players, only veteran center Stefanie Dolson will become an unrestricted free agent after this season. Ezi Magbegor, Hiedeman, and Katie Lou Samuelson are signed to protected veteran contracts for 2027 (Magbegor’s alone extends to 2028). Dominique Malonga, Awa Fam and Flau’jae Johnson will be retained under their rookie contracts. Guards Jade Melbourne and Zia Cooke will be restricted free agents while Jordan Horston, Mackenzie Holmes, and Taylor Thierry will be reserved free agents. So, barring trades, at least half of next season’s roster will remain, while several more could return too. Though the 2026 season is coming to a close, the Storm can still build for the future with some of their core in place.
With this continuity in mind, head coach Sonia Raman spoke about the intentionality her team is approaching this final stretch with. She said at practice Monday that she sees these games as high-level opportunities for everybody who is available to go out there and compete.
“We really want to make sure that we continue to lean into the process of getting better, lock in on a few things specifically for each game that we want to really target as our keys, and then kind of hold them to those standards, which is what we’ve been trying to do all season,” Raman said. “Just finishing on a high note, showing that progress, playing really hard, and just being the hardest working team out there is our No. 1 goal.”
Johnson said she is approaching the final stretch like they are going into playoffs even though they’re not, and taking every game as a learning opportunity. She is particularly excited about the level of teams they will be facing. First up is four-time MVP A’ja Wilson and the Las Vegas Aces in Seattle, though Johnson is more excited to defensively redeem herself after Jackie Young dropped 29 points in their last matchup. Then, there is a trip to Golden State, the team that traded her, followed by another test against the Aces but in Vegas. They’ll end the season at home against a Dallas Wings team featuring 2025 No. 1 overall pick Paige Bueckers, still fighting for playoff positioning.
“It’s the best way I want to end, playing against the best of the best, just to see where I measure out at the end,” Johnson said.
From a tactical standpoint, there are many things Raman wants her team to work on that can carry into the next season. Defensively, Raman said it starts with improving being able to guard the point of attack, communication, physicality at the point of screens and playing with the multiple efforts needed to get stops while in rotations. Offensively, there is still a focus on getting out and running, but she wants her team to continue to work on their reads.
“There’s a lot of opportunities to kind of take what the defense gives you, to punish certain coverages, to be able to get to counters, and so continuing to be able to grow our level of reading and reacting and playing with really high-level spacing is going to be really important,” Raman said.
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Not on the tactical side of things, Hiedeman said one of the most important things they have been working on since the beginning of the season is playing with joy.
“I’m just grateful to be able to play. Like really, that’s all I want to do is go have fun, enjoy my teammates for the last week and a half while we’re here and just really vibe,” Hiedeman said. “I feel like when we have that energy, ya’ll feel it, the crowd feels it. So [we want to] have that energy.”
Johnson similarly wants to bring the energy of consistently being a good teammate.
“Just to continue working hard, build the kind of culture we want to build, no matter who comes into the building,” Johnson said. “It’s about the culture that we’re building and next year [we’ll be] much better.”
One of Johnson’s biggest frustrations this season has been their record in close games. According to @wnbadata on Instagram, the Storm are 0-13 in games with a final margin of five points or less, while the previous worst record was 0-7 by the 1999 Cleveland Rockers. Winning just one close game could show improvement.
“I think as a team we’ve got to be better in clutch moments and we just got to execute,” Johnson said.
In close losses, it’s easy to blame the fact that they are a young team. But Hiedeman says that can’t be their excuse every time they lose or something goes wrong.
“It’s the big girl league … We all got to grow and just continue to get better and kind of decide, how do we want to end the season?” Hiedeman said. “I’m not saying we’ve got to win every game or anything like that, but sometimes it’s just the way we lose. So I think if we go out there and give 100% effort and lose, alright. So just kind of controlling the things that we can control.”
New faces stepping up for injured players
The Storm have confirmed they will be without two of their core veteran players for the rest of the season: center Magbegor and guard/forward Samuelson.
They announced shortly before Australia’s final FIBA World Cup game that Magbegor suffered a torn ACL the day prior, playing for the Opals in their qualifying final against Italy. The center appeared in 14 games this season, missing significant time with a foot injury and then a broken nose, and averaged 6.9 points, 4.0 rebounds, and 1.2 blocks per game while shooting 39.8% from the field. She is likely to miss a majority of the next WNBA season as well due to the long rehab required.
Samuelson, who returned from an ACL injury to her right knee at the beginning of the 2026 season, is out after an arthroscopic procedure on her left knee on Thursday. Raman said, “It’s been something that’s been bothering her, so she got the scope, got it cleaned out, and now she’s feeling good.” In her 32 games this season, Samuelson averaged 4.4 points on 40.5% shooting from the field and 2.1 rebounds.
Hiedeman said that the seventh-year center and sixth-year guard/forward are key pieces of the team and playing without them will be a big change.
“Those are just consistent players that you can rely on,” Hiedeman said. “The next person has to step up, really embrace the opportunity that they’re going to have. But, though their presence on the court won’t be there, they’re two players who you’ll feel their presence from the sideline. Obviously, here at practice, on the bench, they’re still here giving us their knowledge and everything.”
In that vein, Raman is looking for other players to step up by leaning into their strengths and what makes them special. One player who is likely to see increased time after barely appearing since early in the season is 6’3 forward Mackenzie Holmes.
“She’s such a good rebounder; she can create extra possessions for us, which is huge,” Raman said of what she’s looking for from Holmes. “She’s going to work really hard. She’s going to run the floor. She’s really unselfish, and I think will give us that look from the forward spot that’ll really help us on the glass.”
While having lost some players to injury, the Storm will also get one back as the floor general returns. Hiedeman missed her team’s previous four games with a shoulder injury. She said it’s a lot better thanks to her work with the training staff and as long as she feels good, she’ll be playing.
To help their shorthanded roster, the Storm also decided to bring in guard Jaylyn Sherrod, signing her to the team’s second player development roster spot. Sherrod previously played for the New York Liberty, where she won the 2024 WNBA Championship. Raman was an assistant coach in New York during the 2025 season and said her familiarity with Sherrod from that time was big in the decision to sign her.
Sherrod is also already familiar with Hiedeman from playing together on the Minnesota Lynx for the latter part of the 2025 season. Hiedeman calls her ‘Baby J,’ saying, “That’s my rookie from back in the day, so I have a really good relationship with her.”
“I knew right away when they asked me about Baby J, she’s great, like she’ll fit in with us, her vibe, her energy. And then just her athletic spark, I think that’s something that will really help this team in the last final games,” Hiedeman said.
In 10 games with Atlanta this season, the 5’7 guard averaged 2.3 points, 1.1 assists and 0.5 steals. Earlier this year, Sherrod played in Athletes Unlimited, averaging 9.2 points on 43.4% shooting from the field along with 2.8 assists and 2.5 rebounds per game.
Hiedeman thinks the athletic 24-year-old also brings a calming presence and, now in her third WNBA season, is somebody who can take control of the game as a ball handler. Raman also praised the point guard’s experience and understanding gained by playing for high-level teams.
“Offensively, [Sherrod] can kind of read and really execute out of pick-and-rolls and two-player actions, very unselfish. And then on the defensive end, she’s really, really high level with her point-of-attack defense. She’s going to pressure the ball, you know, full court, and really play hard, and we love that about her,” Raman said.
Rather than focusing on what they’ve lost, Hiedeman sees this as an opportunity for the Storm.
“That’s the reality of sports, and it sucks, but the next person got to step up,” Hiedeman said. “It gives players who don’t get to play a lot opportunity, which is good because everybody needs to build and grow on this team. So, I would say instead of looking at it as a negative, you could always take the positive away from something.”
Internationals return with World Cup hardware
The Storm will also be bolstered by the return of their international players from the 2026 FIBA World Cup, having sent four who return with varying results. Melbourne and Magbegor featured for Australia, knocked out in the quarterfinals with a severely depleted squad. In addition to Magbegor’s ACL injury, Melbourne was so sick she couldn’t play. Spain international Fam will return with a bronze medal and French international Malonga with silver.
Malonga helped France reach the final by averaging 11.8 points, 6.5 rebounds, 1.0 assists and 1.3 steals, shooting 53.5% from two-point range and 42.9% from three, in 18.5 minutes per game over the course of the tournament.
“She was awesome,” Raman said of watching Malonga’s performances. “I thought she played her role really well coming off the bench, provided a really good pop on the offensive end. I really think the variety in her screening, the pace in her screening, the way she can slip out and roll, and that roll gravity, created a lot for herself and her teammates. And I like that she was able to find different ways to impact the game on both ends.”
Johnson, on the other hand, was jokingly mad that Malonga dunked in the tournament when she has yet to do the same in a WNBA game, saying, “How you going to go all the way over to [Germany] and then you gonna dunk?” Still, she enjoyed watching her teammates in their element, thinking it was beautiful to watch them take over their teams.
Fam contributed 10.8 points, 7.2 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.0 blocks in 25.7 minutes per game for Spain. Johnson joked she stopped watching France after Malonga dunked but texted Fam constantly during her games for Spain like a coach, continuing to jokingly take credit for her strong play.
“I tell her, bro, shoot the ball! Like you sitting there at the top, they not guarding you, shoot it, what you doing?,” Johnson said with a smile. “I said rebound the ball, like I taught you. … I think, you know, just continue to show her where to pass the ball. She’s a great passer; she wasn’t passing like that before she came to Seattle. I’ll take credit for that. But yeah, I’m about to go pick her up from the airport.”
Raman said the international players will be evaluated by the performance staff once they get back. They will “figure out the best way to put them in a position to be successful, to be healthy, to be safe,” after the physical strain of the tournament.
Even if they have some minutes restrictions, Hiedeman expects their transition back into the fold to be seamless at this late point in the season. Their absence allowed them to practice more with other people and different lineups, but their return should not mess with the flow.
“We just get better,” Johnson said of what changes need to happen when they return. “We just get immensely better and we get to compete at a high level. And I think they’re going to bring the confidence and how great they played back over here.”
Raman thinks that the things they try to lean into and strengths they aim to utilize for both Fam and Malonga on both ends of the floor are pretty similar to what the two are doing for their respective national teams. So returning to Seattle will be more of the same.
“They’re coming off of these really fresh game reps at a really, really high level, so being able to lean into that probably more than anything else,” Raman said.
Though the loss of injured players will be felt in this final stretch, Raman’s team will look to continue letting their young stars shine and learn by doing, while those who have played less will also get an opportunity to show off their strengths.
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