The Seattle Storm were flying high to start the season. In June, they beat Minnesota, New York, and Phoenix, taking down all of the top teams. There are still only three teams that have beaten all of the Lynx, Liberty, and Mercury at least once—Seattle, Atlanta, and Indiana. In July, the Storm added a win over Atlanta and another victory over the defending champions. Led by All-Stars Nneka Ogwumike, Skylar Diggins, and Gabby Williams, the Storm spent most of the season sitting in the top six of the standings.
Recently, the Storm haven’t looked quite the same. They lost four consecutive games. All of them were close, but the Storm just haven’t been able to close out games and secure wins. Due to that losing streak, their position in the standings has taken a hit, and the Storm must find a way to turn things around before it’s too late.
The Storm fell in the standings
After losses to the Sparks, Fever, Lynx, and Aces, the Storm fell to seventh in the regular-season standings. Seattle is now a game behind Indiana and Las Vegas and only one game ahead of the Valkyries and Sparks. Noelle Quinn’s team has officially fallen into the most dangerous part of the playoff race.
Considering how close the standings are between seeds five through nine, every game has huge implications now. The Storm still have four games left against the Sparks, Fever, and Valkyries. Those games will have especially big implications for the playoff race. On top of that, the Storm still have to face Atlanta twice, and Minnesota, Phoenix, and New York once each.
If the season ended today, the Storm would have to face the Liberty in the first round. While they have beaten New York before, this is not a favorable matchup—even if Breanna Stewart has to miss time early in the postseason. The Storm’s goal for the rest of the season should be to climb in the standings again and stay as far away as possible from a first-round series against the Lynx or Liberty.
The Storm’s situation puts a lot of pressure on their newest addition
Well aware of their recent struggles, the Storm made a big win-now move before the trade deadline. They acquired All-Star Brittney Sykes from Washington in exchange for Alysha Clark, Zia Cooke, and a 2026 first-round pick.
Sykes has only played one game for the Storm so far. She played 29 minutes off the bench and finished the game with 14 points on 5-14 shooting from the field, two rebounds, six assists, and two blocks. While it wasn’t her most efficient showing, it wasn’t too bad for her first game with a brand new team.
The Storm acquired Sykes to boost their playoff chances. Now that they have lost a string of important games and have fallen in the standings, the pressure on Sykes to have a positive impact is very high early on. Skylar Diggins struggled to score in the last two games. If that trend continues, the pressure on Sykes will be even higher.