Last year, the Seattle Storm arguably won the offseason. Even as the team would finish the 2023 WNBA season with an 11-29 record, the franchise’s fewest wins since 2015, Jewell Loyd signed a two-year extension in September 2023. Then, unrestricted free agents Nneka Ogwumike and Skylar Diggins-Smith inked one- and two-year deals, respectively, during the 2024 free agency period.
Seattle’s reward for their smart maneuvering, however, was zero playoff wins.
A Storm team on the verge of “superteam” status finished an unremarkable 25-15 and summarily was swept in the first round of the playoffs. Additionally, an investigation into the coaching staff, due to alleged mistreatment of players, occurred after the season. Although no wrongdoing was substantiated, Loyd requested a trade soon thereafter, looking the leave the only WNBA franchise she has ever known a little more than a year after signing an extension. Ogwumike also has the opportunity to depart the Pacific Northwest after a single season, as she is an unrestricted free agent.
If last offseason saw Seattle sail through seemingly clear skies, this one promises a stormier process. Yet, as last year showed, offseason wins aren’t everything. Even if Seattle has to navigate less-than-ideal circumstances this…
