WNBA: Should 2024 be considered a disappointment for Seattle Storm?

From 11-29 and an 11th-place finish in 2023 to 25-15 and a fifth-place finish in 2024. Sounds like a successful season, right?

A win percentage of better than 60 percent, a top-five defense and two 2024 All-Stars (as well as two All-Star snubs and, down the stretch, the French Olympic hero), yet not a single playoff victory. That sounds like a bit of a disappointment, no?

The 2024 Seattle Storm are a conundrum. Their offseason additions—Nneka Ogwumike and Skylar Diggins-Smith—helped the team quickly escape the league’s cellar and re-emerge as a surefire playoff team, making it easy to see their season as a success. But, the lack of a postseason victory, combined with some subpar performances over the season’s final stretch, cannot be considered adequate for a team on the edge of the “superteam” conversation. They were the forgotten contenders that forgot to win a playoff game.

Was 2024 merely a mixed bag of a first season for a star-laden team that will cohere into contender in 2025? Or, did this season prove that the revitalized Storm don’t quite have what it takes to be a true title threat?

What went right for Seattle?

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No doubts about Nneka

Unsurprisingly, Nneka Ogwumike was excellent in her first season outside of Los Angeles. New team, same Nneka.

In her first season in Seattle, Ogwumike was efficient on offense and impactful on defense. She averaged nearly 17 points per game, just above her career average. While almost matching her career high in 3-point attempts per game (2.0), she did sink a career-best 40.5 percent from behind the arc. The Storm’s offense was at its best with Ogwumike on the court, registering a team-high 104.9 offensive rating. For the season, the Storm outscored opponents by 223 points in Ogwumike’s minutes, the best mark on the team. Her 7.6 boards per game were a notch ahead of her career norm, while she matched her career best with 1.9 steals per game. Those stats, in combination with her intangible defensive intelligence, contributed to the seventh All-Defensive honor of her career.

Skylar’s still got it

More questions surrounded the Storm’s other splashy offseason addition: Skylar Diggins-Smith. Last time she was on the court, she was playing the best basketball of her career. But, that was in Aug. 2022, before she gave birth to her second child and entered her mid-30s. As a small point guard, any loss of oomph would make her less effective.

Diggins-Smith, however, assuaged any worries, progressively finding her All-WNBA-caliber form over the course of the season. After the Olympic break, she was sensational as a scorer, averaging 18.5 points per game. For the season, she tallied a career-best 6.5 assists per game. She also set a career high with 1.7 steals. Her 8.2 net rating only trailed that of Ogwumike (9.1).

What went wrong for Seattle?

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Jewell didn’t sparkle

In 2023, Jewell Loyd authored a career year, carrying a Storm team that otherwise struggled to put points on the board. She led the WNBA in scoring, not only scoring 24.7 points per game but also totaling a then-record 939 points. She fired up 8.5 3s per game, while also getting to the line for 7.5 free throws per game, both of which were career bests. Her 31.5 percent usage rate also was the highest of her career. And, she did all that despite struggling through nagging injuries.

It’s no wonder that she was exhausted, with that load possibly hampering her ability to be at her best in 2024.

Loyd’s shot eluded her for most of the season, as she shot a career-low 36.0 percent from the field. Her 27.4 percent from 3 was her poorest mark since her rookie season. Even as Ogwumike and Diggins-Smith alleviated her offensive responsibilities, Loyd never reached peak Gold Mamba-dom. Late-season knee troubles, which caused her to miss the final three games of the regular season, sapped her effectiveness in the postseason, as she scored six and nine points in the Storm’s two playoff games.

No one, however, thinks this is the player Jewell Loyd now is. Look out for the Gold Mamba revenge tour in 2025.

End-of-season swoon

Although Loyd’s struggles might be explainable, Seattle’s team-wide issues after the Olympic break are more puzzling.

Ahead of the All-Star break, the Storm appeared to be finding their groove. In seven July games, they were 5-2 with a net rating of 13.4, the byproduct of their best monthly offensive (106.9) and defensive (93.5) ratings. Yet, following the resumption of play in mid-August, the Storm’s momentum had evaporated. They finished 8-7 over the final 15 games, registering a barely positive net rating of 0.7 as their offense cooled (101.3) and their defense lost its edge (100.7)

Instead of peaking at the right time, Seattle sputtered, with slight statistical degradations across the board adding up to significant slippage. Considering Seattle is a veteran team, equipped with some of the league’s greatest leaders, their inability to rediscover their focus and form is confounding.

What’s next for the Storm?

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Quinn it to win it?

In four seasons as head coach of the Storm, Noelle Quinn has had a wide spectrum of experiences. In 2021, she assumed control of the defending champs, only to have the team’s repeat hopes derailed by a late-season injury to Breanna Stewart. 2022 was the swan-song season for Sue Bird, as well as Stewart’s last year in Seattle. Last season, with Bird and Stewart departed, was a rebuilding one. And in 2024, the arrival of Ogwumike and Diggins-Smith brought high expectations back to the team.

Those up and downs and twists and turns seemingly should situate Quinn in a solid position; because she’s seen a lot in her short head coaching tenure, she’s prepared to navigate any storms Seattle might confront has they strive for the franchise’s fifth championship.

Yet, with the WNBA’s rebuilding teams demonstrating impatience with head coaches since the end of the 2024 regular season, it wouldn’t be surprising if Seattle, rather than seeing Quinn’s track record as a positive, is enticed by change and what could be. That Curt Miller is available is particularly interesting. After playing under Miller during her final season in LA, would Ogwumike vouch for him as an upgrade? Miller, of course, found success with another veteran-laden, defense-first team in the Connecticut Sun before his two-season stint with the Sparks.

Is Gabby gone? What about Nneka?

Gabby Williams (refreshingly) refuses to sugarcoat things when it comes to the financial inadequacies of the WNBA. Asked in her exit interview about her future in the league, she emphasized that the money will matter. After noting that no player has received the lucrative compensation trumpeted by Commissioner Cathy Engelbert, Williams asserted:

So it’s still not enough for us international players to want to stay here. And that’s a choice of the players. If I make a choice to make more money, whatever, and then teams are mad that I don’t come back, but that’s how it is.

The Storm will be waiting on Williams’ decision. If she decides it is worth it for her to return to the W, the organization should be willing to offer as generous a contract as possible. An athletic, versatile two-way wing, Williams profiles as the perfect fifth starter alongside Ogwumike, Diggins-Smith, Loyd and Ezi Magbegor.

Seattle also has to hope that Ogwumike remains part of that starting core. Last offseason, she inked only a one-year contract. After spending 12 season in Los Angeles, it would be surprising if Ogwumike sought another new WNBA home after just a single season in Seattle. Still, the Storm should not be at ease until she is under contract through the 2025 season.

Mercedes Russell, Sami Whitcomb, Victoria Vivians and Joyner Holmes also are unrestricted free agents. Trying to retain Russell on a value contract should be part of the Storm’s plans, although the 6-foot-6 backup center might try to find an opportunity that offers more playing time. Otherwise, the Storm should look to take advantage of a frothy free agent market as they aim to build up a more reliable reserve unit for 2025.