Seattle Storm Finalize 2024 Roster

Here are the 11 players that will open the season with the Seattle Storm

All WNBA rosters to open up the 2024 WNBA season had to be finalized by today, Monday, May 13th. Final cuts, trades, and roster moves were made around the league. At the deadline, the Seattle Storm officially announced their opening-day roster of 11 players. That includes Jewell Loyd, Nneka Ogwumike, Skylar Diggins-Smith, Ezi Magbegor, Jordan Horston, Sami Whitcomb, Mercedes Russell, Nika Mühl, Dulcy Fankam Mendjiadeu, Kiana Williams, and Victoria Vivians.

The final roster cut went to Joyner Holmes. Due to salary cap reasons, it came down to a decision between Holmes and Vivians. And ultimately, Vivians was chosen over Holmes. The Storm’s weakest area of depth on the roster was at the Small Forward position and that is likely why Vivians got the edge with that final decision.

We also know the team just traded away Jade Melbourne. That was announced on Saturday. With that move plus the final roster announcement, it appears that Kiana Williams, Seattle’s 2021 second-round draft pick, beat out Melbourne for the final guard spot on the roster. The trade surprised me a bit as Melbourne is still so young and could have been kept around on a rookie-scale contract for several more years. However, the team must have felt Williams was the better player right here and right now. Kiana did have a strong showing in the final preseason game, knocking down three shots from beyond the arc on 50% FG shooting, leading the reserves in that game with nine points off the bench. It’s a great story of perseverance for the point guard out of Stanford who has battled since 2021 to stick on a WNBA roster.

After missing the WNBA playoffs last year for the first time since 2015, Seattle has retooled their roster with the additions of All-Stars Nneka Ogwumike and Skylar Diggins-Smith. They will team up with the 2023 WNBA’s leading scorer, Jewell Loyd, to try and bring a 5th WNBA Championship to the city of Seattle.

While the team has significantly more veteran leadership on their roster than last season, they will still look to develop their younger players including rookie Nika Mühl, and second-year players Jordan Horston and Dulcy Fankam Mendjiadeu.

Will Seattle be able to compete with the league’s best teams like the Las Vegas Aces and New York Liberty? Only time will tell. But we’ll get a good idea soon as the WNBA season kicks off tomorrow, Tuesday, May 14th.

Projected depth chart:
PG: Skylar Diggins-Smith, Nika Mühl, Kiana Williams
SG: Jewell Loyd, Sami Whitcomb
SF: Victoria Vivians, Jordan Horston
PF: Nneka Ogwumike, Dulcy Fankam Mendjiadeu
C: Ezi Magbegor, Mercedes Russell

All 12 WNBA opening-day rosters can be seen below.

Atlanta Dream

Chicago Sky

Connecticut Sun

Dallas Wings

Indiana Fever

Las Vegas Aces

Los Angeles Sparks

Minnesota Lynx

No official announcement has been made despite the 2:00 PM deadline. Here is the projected final roster.

Napheesa Collier, Kayla McBride, Courtney Williams, Alanna Smith, Bridget Carleton, Natisha Hiedeman, Diamond Miller, Alissa Pili, Dorka Juhász, Sika Koné, Taylor Soule.

New York Liberty

Phoenix Mercury

No official announcement has been made despite the 2:00 PM deadline. Here is the projected final roster.

Diana Taurasi, Brittney Griner, Kahleah Copper, Natasha Cloud, Rebecca Allen, Sophie Cunningham, Sug Sutton, Natasha Mack, Kiki Herbert-Harrigan, Liz Dixon, plus one more.

Seattle Storm

Washington Mystics

Notes:
Photo Credits to Seattle Storm/WNBA Photography.
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