How does a team defeat the Atlanta Dream and New York Liberty only to lose to the Connecticut Sun?
Welcome to the 2025 Seattle Storm, a team that looks like a true title contender—until they don’t.
After a game-winning layup from Skylar Diggins secured the Storm a one-point win in Atlanta, Seattle traveled to Brooklyn and handed the Liberty their worst home loss of the season. It was a defensive shutdown of the defending champs that featured a buoying burst of bench play from Dominique Malonga, who matched her career high with 11 points as she hit five of her seven shot attempts and grabbed eight boards.
All was well for Seattle, with three newly-named All-Stars in starter Nneka Ogwumike and reserves Diggins and Gabby Williams, as they traveled to Uncasville, CT, sure to close out their three-game East Coast road trip with a win over the Sun, who entered the game on a 10-game skid.
Instead, Tina Charles, who had an 18-game cup of coffee with the Storm back in 2022, unleashed a throwback 29-point and 11-rebound double-double, sending Seattle slinking back to the Pacific Northwest. Because this was the Storm’s final game of a long road trip, and one that started at 11 a.m. ET on top of that, it’s easy to excuse it as an outlier. It was an unfavorable schedule spot that, while disappointing, is not disastrous or doom inspiring.
Except, the result is not quite an outlier. While Seattle’s 2025 resume features several great wins, it’s dotted with too many bad losses. And those losses reveal a pattern of weaknesses that could cap the Storm’s ceiling, weaknesses that can be encapsulated in a singular, standout issue for Seattle: 3-point shooting.
The Storm need to find a way to rain more good 3s
Of the teams in the current playoff picture, the Storm have the second-lowest 3-point attempt rate, sitting at ninth in the league with 21.9 3s per game. The four teams above them in the standings—the Minnesota Lynx, Phoenix Mercury, Liberty and Dream—all take at least 26.4 3s per game, an indication of successful WNBA teams’ embrace of analytically-driven offensive basketball.
The Storm, however, do shoot a league-best 35 percent from behind the arc, suggesting that they have the personnel required to benefit from more aggressively firing off 3s. Erica Wheeler is enjoying the best 3-point shooting season of her career at 40.5 percent, as is Williams, even if she has cooled off since her torrid start. Diggins is experiencing her most success from behind the arc since the 2020 Wubble.
Yet, when the Storm have shot more 3s, they’ve lost. In six of their eight losses, they’ve exceeded their season average of 3s per game. That includes Wednesday’s loss to the Sun, when they shot 25 3s, and both of their losses to the Golden State Valkyries, when they scored no more than 70 points and shot 26 and 28 triples, respectively.
So, maybe it’s smart for the Storm to eschew a more analytically-inclined offensive style? Not exactly.
In their higher volume 3-point shooting games, the Storm tend to resort to more difficult pull-up or off-the-dribble 3s, rather than spot-up or catch-and-shoot 3s. So, the problem in losses is not that they’re taking more 3s, but that they’re taking more hard 3s. And they’re doing that because of an inability to generate consistent offense in the halfcourt, an issue that tends to be exacerbated in games when they’re unable to turn offense into defense. And their defense-to-offense loop most often stalls out in games that end up as Ls.
In short, a more resilient halfcourt offense that can create a higher volume of high-quality 3s is necessary for the Storm to certify their championship credentials. That’s easier said than done. At least a rematch against the Sun on Friday night (10 p.m. ET, ION), this time in Seattle, should present an opportunity for the Storm to restore some faith in their championship cred, as a blowout victory should be the expectation.
Tiffany Mitchell could bring foul-drawing depth to Seattle
Friday’s game will also mark the debut of new addition Tiffany Mitchell.
While it’s been great to see Mitchell return to the court after a serious illness robbed her of much of her 2024 season with the Sun, she failed to make a positive impact for the Las Vegas Aces, a team desperate for any and all bench contributions. (Mitchell was waived by Vegas to accommodate trade acquisition NaLyssa Smith.)
In around 13 minutes per game, Mitchell got up less than one 3-pointer, shooting just over 30 percent on her infrequent attempts. Never great from behind the arc, Mitchell was elite at earning free throws during her heyday with the Indiana Fever. As the Storm shoot a league-low 16.1 free throws per game, Mitchell rediscovering her foul-drawing drive game would benefit a Seattle bench that offers just 15.7 points per game, the second-worst mark in the W.