SEATTLE \u2014 The Seattle Storm’s season has been defined by growing pains and a mounting loss total, but the development of some of the team’s youngest players has provided reasons for optimism about the future.<\/p>\n
As Seattle looks ahead, attention is increasingly turning toward the pieces that could become part of the franchise’s long-term plans.<\/p>\n
At the center of that conversation is Dominique Malonga.<\/p>\n
The 20-year-old center, selected by Seattle with the No. 2 overall pick in the 2025 WNBA draft, has taken a significant step forward in her second season. Malonga is averaging 17.2 points, nine rebounds and 1.7 assists per game.<\/p>\n
Her breakout season also earned Malonga her first WNBA All-Star selection. She was selected as a reserve for the 2026 WNBA All-Star Game, becoming an All-Star at just 20 years old.<\/p>\n
Malonga made the most of the opportunity, finishing with 12 points and 13 rebounds in the All-Star Game in Chicago. She also threw down a first-half dunk, becoming just the fifth player to dunk in a WNBA All-Star Game and the first to do so since Sylvia Fowles in 2022.<\/p>\n
Her recent performances have offered more glimpses of her potential. Malonga scored 31 points and grabbed 10 rebounds against the New York Liberty on Aug. 5 and had 26 points and 10 rebounds against the Chicago Sky on Aug. 10. She followed that with 19 points, 13 rebounds and four blocks against Chicago on Aug. 16.<\/p>\n
Malonga is not the only reason for optimism. Seattle’s young core has received significant opportunities during a difficult season, giving the organization a chance to evaluate which players could develop alongside Malonga in the years ahead.<\/p>\n
There is also the team’s fight. Despite struggling in the standings, the Storm have continued to play close games. Seattle fell 84-82 to the Portland Fire on Aug. 14 and 82-80 to Chicago two days later.<\/p>\n
And then there are the fans, who have continued to support the franchise as Seattle works through its growing pains and looks toward what comes next.<\/p>\n
That leaves several potential reasons for Storm fans to believe better days could be ahead: an emerging All-Star in Malonga, the development of the young core, the team’s continued fight, or the support surrounding the franchise.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SEATTLE \u2014 The Seattle Storm’s season has been defined by growing pains and a mounting loss total, but…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":823417,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[99,434],"class_list":["post-823416","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-sports","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/823416","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=823416"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/823416\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/823417"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=823416"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=823416"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=823416"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}