WNBA: Yes, the Seattle Storm can be better this season—and here’s why

They were swept out of the first round of the 2024 WNBA playoffs. Their head coach was investigated for alleged out-of-line treatment of players. They were forced to trade their two-time champion and six-time All-Star guard. They saw their promising young wing suffer an ACL injury in February. They drafted a teenager with the No. 2 overall pick. Their best players are in their mid-30s. Their highest-paid player will miss a significant chunk of the season to compete in EuroBasket Women.

And yet, the Seattle Storm can be better this season. Much better.

Despite a disappointing 2024 season and an offseason featuring a fair share of tumult, the Storm are situated the succeed in 2025, not just earning a trip to the playoffs but arriving there as legitimate title contenders. Here’s why:

Dig in with Diggins

Unrivaled fans were reminded of the sneering swagger of Skylar Diggins during the 3×3 league’s inaugural season. A Second Team All-Unrivaled performer for Lunar Owls, Diggins helped her squad compile the top regular-season record through the force of her play and personality, averaging almost 18 points and five assists per game while hitting multiple game-winning baskets—and letting her opponents know about it.

She should unleash those same abilities and attitude in Seattle this season. At media day, Diggins expressed how her Unrivaled experience has her feeling more prepared for this season, especially compared to the season prior, saying:

I think it really got me prepared, especially coming off last season. I can’t say it enough, coming off maternity leave and having that big of a gap between games….Once I saw the caliber of players that were going to be involved, I knew that was going to be some good run for me to get ready for this camp. Everything that I wanted to use it for came to fruition.

Last year, not only was Diggins in her first season in the Pacific Northwest, but she was also returning to the court after over a year absence due to maternity leave. That resulted in a slow start to the season as she shot the ball poorly. However, she began to find her form after the extended All-Star/Olympic break, averaging 18.5 points per game down the stretch, in addition to reducing her turnovers and increasing her steals.

Expect that production to be her baseline in 2025. While Diggins and Jewell Loyd were a statistically successful pairing in 2024, with their two-player lineup net rating ranking second among all of Seattle’s pairings, Loyd’s departure should result in role clarity, empowering Diggins as the primary offensive initiator for every possession when she is on the floor.

Could the W’s best D be in the PNW?

Last season, the Storm finished with the league’s fourth-best defense, sporting a solid 96.4 rating despite a late-season defensive slide.

Entering 2025, Seattle believes they can be even better, with Diggins even announcing “top two in defense” as the team’s goal. And she and her teammates have good reason to trust that they can be one of the W’s best defensive units. Nneka Ogwumike and Ezi Magebegor remain an outstanding defensive frontcourt, with the wizened smarts of Ogwumike, a seven-time All-Defense nominee who averaged nearly two steals per game last season, complemented by the elite rim protection of Magbegor, a three-time All-Defense honoree who ranked third in the WNBA with 2.2 blocks per game last season. Now, the team adds in Dominique Malonga, the No. 2 pick in the 2025 draft, who, while possessing all-round, other-worldly star promise, is most likely to make a difference on the defensive end as a rookie due to her fluid, athletic gifts at 6-foot-6.

The defensive playmaking of the frontcourt will be complemented by disruptive defense on the perimeter. Gabby Williams, who was limited to 12 games last season due to Olympic year obligations with the French national team (and she’ll miss time this season when competing in EuroBasket Women with France), is a top-notch defensive playmaker. An All-Defense selection in 2022, her last full season in the W, she posted a career-best 1.7 steals per game in 2024. Diggins also matched Williams’ steals average last season, deploying relentless effort to compensate for her lack of size.

The return of Alysha Clark further strengthens the Storm’s defensive prowess. While no longer the Defensive Player of the Year candidate she became during her first tenure is Seattle, she remains on the league’s most solid, reliable defenders, capable of guarding on the perimeter and holding up in the post.

In short, opponents will not have fun trying to score on the Storm this season.

A depth of title-worthy of talent

Diggins also proclaimed that this 2025 Seattle squad is “definitely the most talented roster I’ve been a part of in my 13 years.” That’s a bold statement, especially considering she played alongside the likes of Brittney Griner and Diana Taurasi as a member of a Phoenix Mercury team that reached the WNBA Finals in 2021.

Yet, while the Storm might now have the high-wattage star power of those Mercury, or even last season’s Storm, Seattle does sport superior depth. More specifically, it’s depth that is versatile and complementary. Williams expressed such a sentiment at media day, explaining:

I think that’s what’s so great about the team that we’ve built this year is that maybe anyone can go off any night. It’s not about relying just on one or two players to score. It’s going to be about how we all play together and how we all assume our roles.

Clark, whose presence is significant to Seattle’s overall strength not just because of her aforementioned defense but also her elite 3-point shooting, likewise embraced what this team could achieve, saying: “I think we have enough talent on this roster to win a championship.”

That talent includes Katie Lou Samuelson and Lexie Brown, both of whom, like Clark, offer superb shooting. They’re also competent secondary or tertiary playmakers, while Erica Wheeler gives the Storm a premier backup point guard who is more than capable of exploding for a big scoring night that swings a game in Seattle’s favor.

Li Yueru, who was acquired from the Los Angeles Sparks as part of the trade that sent Loyd to the Las Vegas Aces, began to show promise as an interior scorer last season. Possibly, Mackenzie Holmes, the No. 26 overall pick in the 2024 draft who will begin her rookie season after sitting out last season to rehab lingering injuries from college, can show off the scoring touch that made her a star at Indiana.

And then there’s Malonga, whose sky-high ceiling can inspire outlandish optimism about what she could contribute to the team this season. The rookie has yet to arrive in Seattle, having just completed her season for ASVEL in France, which was competing in the Ligue Féminine de Basketball (LFB) playoffs. Head coach Noelle Quinn noted that the team is “in communication with her,” even as there is no timeline for her arrival.

Seattle is a city that knows and appreciates great women’s basketball, having born witness to four WNBA championships. There’s reason to believe that this team could make it five.