Flau’jae Johnson is feeling the full weight of a difficult WNBA rookie transition

After the Golden State Valkyries handed the Seattle Storm their 34th loss of the season, Flau’jae Johnson couldn’t mask her frustration in the postgame press conference. She was in tears, especially when asked how she would evaluate her rookie season. 

Awa Fam answered the question, saying that they have a lot to be proud of but that it’s hard to lose game after game despite trying your best. Effort isn’t the problem in Seattle. Neither is talent. Dominique Malonga is already an All-Star, and Fam and Johnson could quickly follow suit. 

This is simply a young, inexperienced team just starting a rebuild after all of its veteran stars left in the offseason. The Storm’s three best players are all 22 or younger. While the losses are disappointing, this is where Seattle is supposed to be right now: Allowing its young stars to play through mistakes and being in a great position to add another top pick in next year’s draft. 

However, that doesn’t make all the losses easier to stomach for Johnson, who joined the Storm from one of the best college programs in the country. Johnson won a national championship at LSU in her freshman season. In the three seasons that followed, she never lost more than six regular-season games. She played in the Sweet Sixteen in her final season after losing to UCLA and Iowa in the Elite Eight in the previous two years. 

Losing at the rate she has this season is a completely new experience for Johnson—but one many WNBA rookies struggle with. 

Top picks usually end up with losing teams

Aliyah Boston has talked about how difficult it was to join a losing Indiana Fever team after dominating the NCAA at South Carolina on her podcast with Candace Parker. It’s a universal experience among top picks. They simply aren’t used to losing or playing for bad teams. This year’s draft was an exception, considering that Azzi Fudd, Olivia Miles, and Lauren Betts all immediately helped their teams make the playoffs. 

Still, Johnson is not alone with her experience. Gabriela Jaquez, Kiki Rice, Gianna Kneepkens, and Charlisse Leger-Walker went from a championship team to three of the four worst teams in the W. 

Last year, Paige Bueckers went from a dominant UConn squad to a Wings team that won 10 games and struggled every single night. Aneesah Morrow went from being Johnson’s teammate at LSU to an 11-win Connecticut Sun team. 

Two years earlier, Angel Reese and Kamilla Cardoso left LSU and South Carolina with championship rings only to join one of the most dysfunctional WNBA franchises—which Cardoso is still a part of. 

For Johnson, there’s a light at the end of the tunnel. The Storm’s core has an incredibly bright future, especially if the front office can add someone like Hannah Hidalgo or S’Mya Nichols in the lottery—assuming they miss out on the top two picks and chances to draft JuJu Watkins and Madison Booker. However, it will probably take a few more seasons for them to figure things out and really start winning. 

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