Storm Update: Seattle struggling on boards

For much of the 2024 WNBA regular season, the story of the Seattle Storm has been about establishing chemistry as they try to bounce back from an 11-29 record and return to contention. An all-in free agency period that brought stars Nneka Ogwumike and Skylar Diggins-Smith to Seattle all but guaranteed the Storm would make the playoffs in 2024, though it was understood that they’d need time to get used to playing with each other, as well as with 2023’s leading scorer, Jewell Loyd, if the Storm were truly going to be a championship-caliber team.

Seattle looked to be headed in the right direction before the mid-July Olympic break—not a perfect team by any means, but at 17-8, one that had been impressive nonetheless—but has stumbled since then. The Storm have lost five of seven games since WNBA play resumed in August, slipping to fifth place in the league standings as several concerning trends have emerged.

Perhaps the most glaring of those trends is how badly the Storm have been getting outrebounded. Since returning from the Olympic break, Seattle has rebounded just 66.2 percent of available defensive rebounds and 44.4 percent of available total rebounds, both worst in the WNBA during that span. The Storm hit a low point on the boards in a loss to the New York Liberty last Friday, when they were massively outrebounded 45-17.

“You just can’t win games giving up that many offensive rebounds and that many points off offensive rebounds,” Storm head coach Noelle Quinn lamented after the game. “Defensively, we’re flying around, we’re pressuring, we’re contesting, but we have to finish plays with rebounds, period.”

Quinn went on to describe the amount of second-chance points her team has been allowing as “backbreaking,” and it’s hard to disagree. Seattle has been a fairly stout defensive team to this point, posting a defensive rating of 96.3 points allowed per 100 possessions (fourth in the WNBA), but has allowed an average of 12 second-chance points and 40 points in the paint per game since the break. It’s led to Storm opponents scoring over 90 points three times in the past two week—something that happened only twice in the entire first half of the season.

It’s put a damper on the return of forward Gabby Williams, who signed a rest-of-season contract with the Storm on Aug. 20. Williams had missed the first half of the WNBA season while training with the French national team (with whom she won a silver medal at the Paris Olympics), but chose to return to Seattle after an impressive international showing.

Theoretically, Williams improves the Storm’s depth while giving the team added playmaking from the forward position. In 2023, she averaged career-highs in scoring (8.4) and assists (3.8), and she was named to the WNBA’s All-Defense Team the season prior. Williams’ presence allows Quinn to move Jordan Horston to the bench and, together with the second-year wing, gives Seattle a full 40 minutes of defense and athleticism on the perimeter.

That hasn’t helped the Storm’s struggles on the boards, though, and with just two weeks remaining in the regular season, time is running out for Seattle to find its second wind. Failing to do so could be the difference between a championship run and a first-round playoff exit.