The Seattle Storm are down a third player. On Saturday, May 3, the team announced Katie Lou Samuelson will miss the entirety of the 2025 season after tearing her ACL in her right knee during practice on Thursday.
Samuelson is the third player on the team to miss 2025 with an ACL injury. Jordan Horston tore her ACL in February while playing in the AU Pro Basketball and Nika Muhl suffered an ACL tear in October 2024 while playing with the Turkish club Besiktas.
Some had hoped Muhl may join the team this year, especially as she didn't get a tremendous amount of clock during her rookie season with the team, but those dreams were dashed after the Storm announced both Horston and Muhl's contracts were suspended in January.
The Seattle Storm will need to regroup ahead of the WNBA season
The direction of the Storm will undoubtedly be impacted by the loss of Samuelson, who signed with the team after departing the Indiana Fever in February. Samuelson was selected in the first round of the 2019 WNBA Draft by the Chicago Sky. She appeared in 20 games during her rookie season, averaging 2.4 points per outing. It should be noted that she received only 7.7 minutes per game.
She moved to the Dallas Wings in 2020 before moving to the Storm for the first time in 2021. Samuelson then found a home with the Las Vegas Aces in 2022 before she signed with the Fever in 2024. The injury has the potential to be a career-ender for Samuelson, who struggled last season after returning to the game following the birth of her daughter.
The injury comes days after Storm vet Skyler Diggins told reporters the 2025 team is the "most talented roster I've been a part of." The team brought in Diggins and Nneka Ogwumike in 2024 but failed to advance beyond the opening round of the playoffs. Jewell Loyd quickly requested a trade from the team (and subsequently found a home with the Aces this year), and the Storm drafted French superstar Dominique Malonga as the 2nd overall pick in this year's WNBA Draft.
But there are still plenty of holes on the team. A replacement for Loyd hasn't been entirely hammered out, and Malonga did not join the team for training camp on April 27. The team cored Gabby Williams during free agency this year and also brought in Alysha Clark, who previously helped lead the Storm to championships in 2018 and 2020.