How Ogwumike makes Seattle a WNBA championship contender

Simply how good will the Seattle Storm be after including former MVP Nneka Ogwumike in free company after already signing six-time All-WNBA choice Skylar Diggins-Smith?

In Diggins-Smith and Ogwumike, the Storm signed the highest two gamers in my free company projections to alter groups. By becoming a member of holdover star Jewell Loyd, the league’s main scorer final season, they offer Seattle an enormous three in an identical mildew to Loyd’s partnership with Sue Chicken and Breanna Stewart that gained WNBA championships in 2018 and 2020.

Given the dominance of the two-time defending champion Las Vegas Aces, who knocked off the Storm within the 2022 semifinals earlier than Chicken retired and Stewart signed with the New York Liberty in free company a 12 months in the past, profitable a title might be a problem for Seattle’s new huge three. But after a 12 months within the draft lottery — the franchise’s first since drafting Stewart No. 1 total in 2018 — their arrival alerts a return to rivalry for the Storm.

Let’s check out simply how aggressive Seattle could be in addition to what Ogwumike’s choice alerts about free company.

How Diggins-Smith and Ogwumike match the Storm

On the floor, Ogwumike choosing the Storm due to the chance to contend for a title appears odd given the crew’s 11-29 report final season — six wins fewer than the Los Angeles Sparks crew Ogwumike determined to go away. Nonetheless, Seattle fell into the lottery due to gaping holes at each level guard and within the frontcourt, which Diggins-Smith and Ogwumike massively improve immediately.

The Storm tried three place to begin guards final season, starting with journeywoman Yvonne Turner and giving worldwide veteran Ivana Dojkic an extended look earlier than selecting veteran Sami Whitcomb, who’s a extra pure match on the wing. In video games Whitcomb began on the level, Seattle was a extra aggressive 7-11 (.389), in contrast with 4-18 (.182) the remainder of the season.

With Diggins-Smith’s arrival, there is no query who will begin at level guard. The final time we noticed her on the court docket — with the Phoenix Mercury in 2022, earlier than she sat out final season after giving start to her second youngster — Diggins-Smith was an All-WNBA first-team decide whereas averaging 19.7 factors, 5.5 assists and a career-high 1.6 steals.

Seattle coach Noelle Quinn additionally rotated by choices alongside first-time All-Star Ezi Magbegor within the frontcourt, with rookie second-round decide Dulcy Fankam Mendjiadeu getting 21 begins after supplanting veteran Mercedes Russell. Each Fankam Mendjiadeu and Russell now slot into reserve roles behind a beginning duo of Magbegor, who’s versatile sufficient to play each energy ahead and middle, and Ogwumike.

Like Diggins-Smith and Loyd, Ogwumike is coming off an All-WNBA season. She has made the second crew every of the previous two years, and final 12 months’s 19.1 factors per recreation have been Ogwumike’s most since 2016. We will anticipate to see her in a job just like the one Stewart performed in Seattle: as each a finisher out of the pick-and-roll with the crew’s star guards and as a creator in one-on-one alternatives with good spacing round her. For Ogwumike, having a lot supporting expertise needs to be a pleasing change of tempo. She hasn’t had a teammate make the All-Star Sport since Chelsea Grey and Candace Parker left the Sparks in free company after the 2020 season.

It is the #PNnW 🌩️ pic.twitter.com/e0RLhJKzhg

— Nneka Ogwumike (@nnekaogwumike) February 5, 2024

In contrast with the Chicken-Loyd-Stewart trio, this model of the Storm’s huge three is a bit higher-usage. Of their most up-to-date seasons, Loyd (33%), Diggins-Smith (29%) and Ogwumike (27%) mixed to complete 89% of their groups’ performs whereas on the court docket, a quantity that can inevitably go down as they play collectively. In contrast, the Chicken-Loyd-Stewart group had a mixed 71% utilization price in 2020 in the course of the crew’s most up-to-date title run.

Nonetheless, we have seen all three sacrifice when enjoying with extra star-studded rosters prior to now. Diggins-Smith’s utilization price was round 25% her first two seasons with the Mercury alongside Brittney Griner; Ogwumike’s was nearer to 21% with Grey and Parker; Loyd’s, 26.5% in 2022. These marks would put them in the identical mixed vary as when Chicken and Stewart performed with Loyd.

How good will Seattle be?

With three All-WNBA starters plus a fourth All-Star in Magbegor, the Storm’s beginning lineup seems to be extra proficient on paper than any exterior of the Las Vegas and New York superteams that met in each final 12 months’s WNBA Finals and Commissioner’s Cup remaining.

Whether or not Seattle can certainly emerge as the largest risk to the Aces and Liberty will rely upon the event of the crew’s younger expertise. In these 4 starters plus Whitcomb, the Storm have 5 dependable gamers. The remainder of the roster will lean closely on youth, together with second-year gamers Fankam Mendjiadeu, Jade Melbourne and 2023 first-round decide Jordan Horston.

Ideally, Horston would preserve the beginning function she stuffed the second half of final season, which earned her All-Rookie honors. That might allow Quinn to make use of Whitcomb at a number of positions off the bench. Horston’s defensive versatility will permit her to defend the opponent’s greatest perimeter scorer, taking that duty off Loyd’s plate, however she should enhance on her 24% 3-point capturing as a rookie.

Melbourne — who was the WNBA’s youngest participant final season, turning 21 in August — can also be key. Her emergence as a dependable backup to Diggins-Smith would permit Whitcomb to focus totally on the wing.

There are many different groups within the combine to be the third-best crew within the WNBA subsequent season. The Connecticut Solar, who completed third in 2023, return their core after re-signing DeWanna Bonner and Brionna Jones on Monday. The youthful Atlanta Dream and Dallas Wings each hope to take steps ahead, with the Dream upgrading at level guard through a sign-and-trade deal for Ogwumike’s former teammate Jordin Canada. And the Minnesota Lynx and Phoenix each added function gamers in free company to construct round their stars.

Nonetheless, if the Storm’s bench coalesces, no person exterior Las Vegas and New York can match Seattle’s top-end expertise.

Observe services repay in WNBA free company

It is certainly not a coincidence that the Storm landed two prime free brokers the identical 12 months the crew is about to maneuver into a brand new, devoted observe facility. Seattle is following within the footsteps of the Aces, who added Alysha Clark and Candace Parker as free brokers to their championship roster as they opened their very own observe facility final 12 months.

Though one among Ogwumike’s finalists was the Chicago Sky, who observe in a public facility within the Chicago suburbs, her choice finally seems to have come all the way down to the Storm and Liberty — who even have their very own services of their residence area, Barclays Heart.

Final 12 months, Los Angeles chief administrative officer Karen Bryant advised ESPN, “as we go ahead [facilities] would be the differentiator.” That future could be now, leaving the Sky and Sparks behind. Funding in gamers is one consider why the WNBA has develop into so top-heavy.

Of final 12 months’s 10 All-WNBA picks, seven now play for both Las Vegas, New York (together with Stewart, who has but to formally re-sign as a core participant) or Seattle. If Parker re-signs with the Aces, that complete might be eight of 10 from the 2022 All-WNBA groups, with the Connecticut Solar’s Alyssa Thomas the one energetic participant not enjoying for a kind of three squads.

Sustaining that benefit in free company might be key for the Storm, who’ve sacrificed a few of their future in pursuit of rivalry now. Diggins-Smith and Ogwumike will each flip 34 in the course of the season, and creating cap area to signal them required the franchise to surrender this 12 months’s No. 4 decide in a deal that despatched Kia Nurse to Los Angeles.

Ogwumike’s deal is for only one season, per ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne. (Diggins-Smith signed for 2 years, in response to HerHoopStats.com’s wage information.) So long as the Storm stay a desired vacation spot in free company, nonetheless, they’ll proceed replenishing the expertise across the 30-year-old Loyd. Add in an unprotected 2026 first-round decide that Seattle bought from the Sparks within the Nurse deal, and it could be attainable to develop a brand new era whereas contending now.