WNBA contracts negotiated this week can't be signed until Saturday, which has meant a lot of fans have spent the days in the realm of speculation, wondering who might be traded to which team. There are a lot of rumblings out there: Natisha Heideman is leaving the Lynx, the Liberty (and half the league) are interested in Monique Billings, and Gabby Williams might depart Seattle for San Francisco.
But the end of the 2025 season also introduced the possibility the the Storm's Ezi Magbegor could leave the Pacific Northwest entirely. In her exit interview at the end of last season, Magbegor appeared to hint that she may not be completely happy in Seattle, and the time to move on might be sooner than later. The team fired coach Noelle Quinn, and a lot of the Storm's core veterans appear to be poised to sign deals of their own elsewhere.
Soon after the Wings announced Thursday that Arike Ogunbowale had agreed to a multi-year deal with the team (though notably did not core her), an account that reports Dallas Wings news posted on Threads Thursday that Dallas "aren't even close to being done." That's just speculation, and it could mean a lot of different things, but does present a very interesting possibility.
If Magbegor wants out and the Wings are committed to keeping Ogunbowale, the idea that Dallas may draft Azzi Fudd or Olivia Miles as the No. 1 overall pick begins to make less sense. At the same time, bringing Magbegor to Texas also means the team doesn't immediately need someone like Awa Fam or Lauren Betts. There's also the matter of designation: the Storm cored Magbegor, which means any team she's traded to would have to do the same — though it doesn't appear that said team would have to offer her the supermax.
But trading for Magbegor would require something fairly significant from the Storm.
The dream: Olivia Miles + Awa Fam + Dominique Malonga
Like, perhaps, the No. 1 and No. 3 draft picks in this year's draft.
This could potentially land the Storm Olivia Miles and Awa Fam, a pairing who would dominate courts alongside Dominique Malonga in the years to come. It does leave the No. 2 spot open to the Lynx, but the team is rumored to be interested in Lauren Betts (though, at this point, who knows how much stock should be put into rumors... including this one).
It might not result in a great season for Seattle this year, and it might not even result in a great season in 2027. But by 2028, when Sarah Strong will likely be the No. 1 pick, the Storm could have set themselves up to be one of the strongest teams in the league — if this is part of their plans. A frontcourt made up of Strong and Malonga is electrifying, and the combination of Strong, Malonga, and Miles on the same team would result in assists totals that are among the best in the league.
There's a lot that can and will happen this week, and Monday's draft will shed even more light on what teams are thinking. It's entirely possible this entire plan is so far off base it's laughable, but it's always okay to be wrong. The possiblity that some version of this might be right, maybe, is worth it in the end.