Seattle Storm 2025 Draft class led by French phenom

After a blockbuster trade that most notably sent franchise stalwart Jewell Loyd to the Las Vegas Aces, the Storm acquired the No. 2 overall pick from the Los Angeles Sparks. With their lottery pick, the Storm selected 19-year-old, 6’6, French center Dominique Malonga, an investment in both the Storm’s present and future.

“She’s a unicorn, she is one of one, in my opinion,” head coach Noelle Quinn told media on Monday night. “Her ability to do multiple things on a basketball court, guard multiple positions, whether it is the five, whether it is the four … I think her versatility lends to a successful career in our league.

“The thing that is very intriguing about her is just the way that she’s grown rapidly over the last few years. And so if you think about her ability to go inside-out, stretch-floor game, but also her defensive prowess, you know, there’s some versatility to her game that won’t have me saying she is this or that. She is 100% an amazing athlete.”

The Next’s 2025 WNBA Draft board provides a thorough look at Malonga’s skills that make her ceiling something like Lisa Leslie with a three-pointer. The important highlights are that the 6’6 center is remarkably athletic and has a 7’1 wingspan, one of the longest in draft history.

One of Malonga’s key offensive skills is earning layups with her speed in transition, which fits well with the pace at which the Storm like to play. But she has also improved her halfcourt game over the last year, able to attack bigs from the three-point line, convert midrange jumpers, finish at the rim and confidently attempt three-point shots.

Defensively, Malonga is laterally athletic. She is able to switch, she can hedge and recover in ball screens and she can can cover ground as a weakside rim protector. The Next felt that her “feel for space and positioning in drop coverage has gone from underwhelming in 2023-24 to very respectable this season.” She already has strong defensive playmaking numbers, but with the right coaching and teachers, she could be an All-Defensive team standout.

Malonga will benefit from veterans, like teammates before her

Malonga is very talented, but still far from her ceiling. What is so exciting for the Storm — and should be for fans — is how much she has improved over the past couple of seasons. It is certainly realistic for her to reach an All-Star level.

A potential roadmap for an ideal development pathway can be seen nearby in new Storm teammate Ezi Magbegor. Magbegor was selected with the last pick of the first round in the 2019 WNBA Draft but played her first season in the bubble in 2020, at just 21 years old.

Magbegor played 10-15 minutes per game her first few seasons, but has naturally come into her own, named to the All-Defensive WNBA teams in 2022, 2023 (second team) and 2024 (first team). Magbegor, still just 25 years old, is now an Olympic bronze medalist who plays with consistent All-Star caliber player and is frequently in the conversation for Defensive Player of the Year.

“It takes work and it does take time,” Quinn said. “I think what Ezi had was a great vet in Lang [Crystal Langhorne] when she was here. And so I think about Dom and having a great vet in Ezi and a great vet in Nneka [Ogwumike] and a great vet in AC [Alysha Clark]. That really propels that development.

“It’s not pressure to be a fast or escalated development. It is a process and Dom understands that. We’ve seen it with Ezi and I feel like we can definitely project that with Dom as well.”

The large number of veterans on the team will both help Malonga’s development and take the pressure off of her as she adjusts to life in the WNBA.

“I’ve been wrapping my mind around how we can best utilize our lineups,” Quinn said. “I think the great part about it is she’s young, and so there’s no pressure to come in here and be superstar, All Star all day long. There’s going to be some reality around a development process. And I think we have the vets and the versatility and the athletes and the leadership to do that.”

Despite her youth, Malonga is actually very experienced as a pro. The Cameroon-born center began her professional careeer in 2021 at just 15 years old with French club ASVEL Feminin. After two seasons, she was loaned to another French basketball team, Tarbes Gespe Bigorre. This past season, Malonga returned to ASVEL Feminin and averaged 15.4 points and 10.3 rebounds per game.

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Malonga was particularly outstanding during this year’s EuroCup women’s tournament, as she became her team’s leading scorer with an average of 18.5 points and 11 rebounds. She was named to the All-EuroCup First Team and won European Player of the Year and Center of the Year for her tournament performance as well.

“I think she’s been playing against a lot of players and with a lot of players that are in our league, and so there’ll be a sense of comfort, I think, for her, in that,” Rhea said. “Obviously, our league is totally different than what she’s experienced. And to go night in and night out against the competition in our league will be an adjustment, but knowing that she’s done it before, … I think is a very big advantage in making the transition.”

Playing with Storm teammate proved vital

The French national team player will also likely benefit from her international experience playing alongside Storm forward Gabby Williams in the 2024 Paris Olympics, where they won silver. Malonga, the youngest player on the team on that Olympic team, also played alongside Williams on the French professional team ASVEL.

In addition to watching Malonga live and watching a ton of film, the Storm front office was able to have conversations with Williams about Malonga’s improvement over the years, as well as her personal disposition.

“[We] felt very comfortable with our evaluation of her and her ability to get to know us, as well as our ability to get to know her as a person off of the basketball court,” Storm general manager Talisa Rhea said of Williams’s help in understanding Malonga. Per Rhea, the front office was able to learn about the type of person and teammate Malonga would be. “And so we definitely value that feedback from a teammate,” Rhea mentioned, nodding at Williams’s input.

Malonga feels that FIBA competitions particularly have helped develop her toughness as preparation for success in the WNBA.

“I would say that international FIBA basketball … was always high-level games,” Malonga told media after being drafted. “At the Olympics, you all watched it and you could see that the games were — every game was tight. We could see great players that evolve in this league, so of course it was like high-level teams. Every minute that I spent on the court there, I know that I learned something and that I improved on my game.”

Last year there was a lot of talk about the Storm needing grit. Malonga does not lack that at all, neither in her professional performances nor in her international experience.

“For her to get that experience and have that and bring that over here at such a young age, I think it is vital not only to her growth and development, but to what she can contribute to this team,” Quinn said. “I think we’ve done an excellent job with the current players that we’ve had, building this team, and we have a lot of gritty players now. We have a lot of players who are hungry, and I think Dominique will definitely contribute to that as well.”

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The roster begins to take shape

Five players are signed to protected contracts: Williams; veteran All-Star point guard Skylar Diggins-Smith; all-time great forward Nneka Ogwumike; all-defensive team honoree Magbegor, and offseason shooting guard addition Lexie Brown. Alysha Clark, who won two WNBA Championships with the Storm in 2018 and 2020, is signed to an unprotected $185,000 contract but will certainly be on the final roster.

Other players signed to unprotected or training camp contracts but with a high-likelihood of making it on the final roster are forward Katie Lou Samuelson (who is returning for her second stint in Seattle), veteran point guard Erica Wheeler and 6’7 center Li Yueru. Jordan Horston and Nika Mühl are presumed out for the season due to injury, so their contracts will be suspended as soon as allowed by league rules.

Malonga is also a lock for making the roster, but her exact arrival time is unknown. Currently, Malonga’s league team in France is in the playoffs, so she returned to France the day after the Draft. Per Rhea, the team knows generally what to expect regarding her arrival and are not overly concerned about when she ultimately reports.

“We feel like she’s a talent that is worth going through that process with her,” Rhea said. “And so we’ll continue to be in conversation and we will be thrilled to have her in Seattle as soon as she can get here.”

Rhea said the team plans to start with a roster of 11, though the possibility of making changes throughout the season and adding a roster spot remains strong. Assuming those probabilities play out, 10 opening day roster spots are taken up. That leaves just one spot remaining for Seattle’s three third-round 2024 WNBA Draft picks, Mackenzie Holmes, Brianna Fraser and Zia Cooke to compete for. The Storm can also still invite up to two more active players to training camp for a total of 18.

Impact of third-round draft picks

After selecting second on the night, the Storm did not have another pick to make until the third round, when they made three. With those additional picks came unique benefits and strengths, although these players will have a harder time making the roster.

With the first pick of the third round, the Seattle Storm selected 6’1 versatile combo guard Serena Sundell from Kansas State. Although Sundell did not make The Next’s 2025 WNBA Draft board, she was expected to be picked somewhere in the second round. There was some belief Sundell could succeed at the pro level because of her versatility and size, so the Storm were surprised when she was still available at No. 26.

Rhea praised Sundell’s proven leadership skills, consistency and ability to play multiple positions as things that could add a different element or look to this Storm team.

As a senior, Sundell played her best season of college basketball. On the way to helping lead her team to the Sweet 16 for the first time in 23 years, Sundell was named to the All-Big-12 First Team and named an Associated Press All-American honorable mention. She was the only player in the nation with 500+ points, 250+ assists and 150+ rebounds in the 2024-25 season.

Her career-high 508 points led the Wildcats in scoring, at 14.1 points per game. While converting and attempting the most field goals in her career, Sundell was also very efficient, shooting 50.1% from the field and 30.2% from three.

Sundell’s impact goes well beyond scoring, however. The guard led the nation in assists per game (7.3) and total assists (262), while her 262 assists rank third most in a single season in Big 12 history. Her second in the Big 12 and 14th in the nation assist-to-turnover ratio of 2.52x further indicated to the Storm that Sundell makes smart decisions with the basketball.

The No. 26 overall pick is also able to use her length on the defensive end and rebounding the basketball. Sundell averaged 4.4 rebounds per game as a senior.

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Three-point shooting is something Quinn identified as an achilles heel of her team. This led to the offesason acquisitions of Samuelson (33.6% from three over WNBA career), Clark (38.3% career three-point FG percentage) and Brown (35.7% career three-point FG percentage), which the team feels good about. But still, the Storm didn’t want to pass up on drafting an elite shooter.

So, with the No. 29 overall pick the Storm selected TCU shooting-guard Madison Conner. Over her five-year college career — the first years spent at Arizona and the last two at TCU — the 5’11 guard shot a strong 40.4% from three. This past season, which saw TCU women’s basketball qualify for its first Elite Eight in school history, Conner led the Big 12 in three-point field-goal percentage as she shot 44.9% from behind the arc.

“I thought it was important to kind of bolster up some guard depth and have some athletes come in here and really compete for an opportunity to get a spot,” Quinn said. “You don’t find many elite shooters like Connor with the ability to be lethal and consistent. So it’s exciting to get her in here and to see her.

“The other thing is her size,” Quinn continued. “You know, sometimes shooters can be a little bit small. I like to see … her versatility on the floor as well — but really leaning on her three point shooting.”

In her final collegiate season, Conner averaged 14.4 points per game, four rebounds per game and 3.6 assists per game. Conner led the NCAA with 128 total made threes in the 2024-2025 season, which was also a TCU single-season record for most three-pointers. As a result, in 2025, Conner was named to the All-Big-12 First Team and named an Ann Meyers-Drysdale Award finalist.

With their final pick of 2025, the Seattle Storm selected Jordan Hobbs, No. 34 overall from the University of Michigan. The 6’3 forward started every game of her senior season while averaging career highs in minutes (31.1), points (13.6) and rebounds (4.8). Hobbs scored in double digits in 26 of 34 contests on the way to a All-Big Ten Honorable Mention by both coaches and the media. 

“Jordan Hobbs is a stretch four, someone who can space the floor, has good size and excited to add her to our post group as well,” Rhea said.

Quinn later expanded on the decision. “I really like the system that she played in as we’re talking about having some versatility with our three point shooting,” she said. “When you have a player of her stature, maturity, stayed in a system for four years, really committed and loyal and grew within the player that she is. I think it’s amazing to bring not only an athlete that can do things on the court, but a high character athlete as well.”

Statistically, Hobbs’s career three-point field goal percentage of 34.9% suggests the capabilities Rhea alluded to, while she is also solidly efficient from the field generally. Hobbs shot a career high 50.7% from two as a senior, above her 46.8% career mark.

Several players will be fighting very hard to take that 11th and final roster spot. But regardless of whoever eventually earns it, the Storm are excited to have such a diversity of players with different talents to round out their strong and versatile roster.

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