🔴How Ogwumike makes Seattle a WNBA championship contender🏀
0How Ogwumike makes Seattle a WNBA championship contender
Just how good will the Seattle Storm be after adding former MVP Nneka Ogwumike in free agency after already signing six-time All-WNBA selection Skylar Diggins-Smith?
In Diggins-Smith and Ogwumike, the Storm signed the top two players in my free agency projections to change teams. By joining holdover star Jewell Loyd, the league's leading scorer last season, they give Seattle a big three in a similar mold to Loyd's partnership with Sue Bird and Breanna Stewart that won WNBA championships in 2018 and 2020.
Given the dominance of the two-time defending champion Las Vegas Aces, who knocked off the Storm in the 2022 semifinals before Bird retired and Stewart signed with the New York Liberty in free agency a year ago, winning a title will be a challenge for Seattle's new big three. Yet after a year in the draft lottery -- the franchise's first since drafting Stewart No. 1 overall in 2018 -- their arrival signals a return to contention for the Storm.
Let's take a look at just how competitive Seattle might be as well as what Ogwumike's decision signals about free agency.
How Diggins-Smith and Ogwumike fit the Storm
On the surface, Ogwumike picking the Storm because of the opportunity to contend for a title seems odd given the team's 11-29 record last season -- six wins fewer than the Los Angeles Sparks team Ogwumike decided to leave. However, Seattle fell into the lottery because of gaping holes at both point guard and in the frontcourt, which Diggins-Smith and Ogwumike massively upgrade instantly.
The Storm tried three starting point guards last season, beginning with journeywoman Yvonne Turner and giving international veteran Ivana Dojkic a long look before settling on veteran Sami Whitcomb, who's a more natural fit on the wing. In games Whitcomb started at the point, Seattle was a more competitive 7-11 (.389), compared with 4-18 (.182) the rest of the season.
With Diggins-Smith's arrival, there's no question who will start at point guard. The last time we saw her on the court -- with the Phoenix Mercury in 2022, before she sat out last season after giving birth to her second child -- Diggins-Smith was an All-WNBA first-team pick while averaging 19.7 points, 5.5 assists and a career-high 1.6 steals.
Seattle coach Noelle Quinn also rotated through options alongside first-time All-Star Ezi Magbegor in the frontcourt, with rookie second-round pick Dulcy Fankam Mendjiadeu getting 21 starts after supplanting veteran Mercedes Russell. Both Fankam Mendjiadeu and Russell now slot into reserve roles behind a starting duo of Magbegor, who's versatile enough to play both power forward and center, and Ogwumike.
Like Diggins-Smith and Loyd, Ogwumike is coming off an All-WNBA season. She has made the second team each of the past two years, and last year's 19.1 points per game were Ogwumike's most since 2016. We can expect to see her in a role similar to the one Stewart played in Seattle: as both a finisher out of the pick-and-roll with the team's star guards and as a creator in one-on-one opportunities with good spacing around her. For Ogwumike, having so much supporting talent should be a pleasant change of pace. She hasn't had a teammate make the All-Star Game since Chelsea Gray and Candace Parker left the Sparks in free agency after the 2020 season.