The Storm’s frontcourt rotation is very simple right now. Sonia Raman is starting Dominique Malonga and Awa Fam and bringing Stefanie Dolson and Mackenzie Holmes off the bench. Malonga and Fam are the two most talented players on the team and the future of the franchise. As two of the youngest players in the W, they also need all the minutes they can get to develop.
They are making the most of their minutes, too. Malonga leads the Storm in scoring and rebounding with 15.8 points and 6.9 rebounds per game. She also put up a career-high 28 points against the Portland Fire. Awa Fam joined the Storm late because she still had to finish her season in Spain, but found her stride quickly. She scored in double figures in four of her seven games in June.
The duos’ success—they’re also starting to play very well off each other—poses one all-important question for the Storm: How does Ezi Magbegor fit in with Fam and Malonga?
Magbegor is currently sidelined with an injury, but once she returns, Sonia Raman will have to figure out how to balance her two young stars and the franchise’s million-dollar player.
Could Seattle trade Magbegor down the line?
The most obvious answer to this question may be that Magbegor will slot into the starting lineup and one of Fam and Malonga will move to the bench—most likely Fam. Anything else would make Magbegor the highest-paid backup in the W alongside the Wings’ Alanna Smith. But moving one of Fam or Malonga to the bench will cut into their ability to build chemistry as a tandem and one player’s developmental minutes.
A supersized starting lineup of Natisha Hiedeman, Fla’jae Johnson, Awa Fam, Dominique Malonga, and Ezi Magbegor would be incredibly intriguing, but Fam probably isn’t quite ready and comfortable enough on the perimeter to play the three yet.
If the Storm don’t want to bring Magbegor off the bench, but also don’t want to take anything away from Malonga and Fam, the only other viable option would be to trade Magbegor. The 26-year-old defensive stalwart would undoubtedly attract a ton of attention if the Storm signaled to other teams that she’s available and could bring assets to aid Seattle’s rebuild around Malonga, Fam, and Johnson.
Magbegor could be a difference-maker for several playoff hopefuls, like the Valkyries, Fire, or Tempo. She could also fit Minnesota’s defense if rumors around Napheesa Collier’s looming exit in free agency come true. The Storm, meanwhile, are a long way from contention and could use whatever young players and draft picks they could land in a trade. They own their first-round picks for 2027 and 2028, but could always benefit from more, considering the wave of young talent set to enter the league.
However, trading Magbegor would also mean giving up on a player the organization developed and knows can help a team win right now. She was, after all, part of a few playoff squads.
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