What’s funny is that I will occasionally write up a lengthy, detailed, informative article and release it free to all subscribers and then immediately see some free subscribers unsubscribe right after that email gets sent out. I’m always baffled by that because I’m not sure what they were expecting when they signed up. Unless, they were expecting actual Tornado Wrangling like from the movie Twisters.
The Storm are in an awful spot due to injuries and a horrible CBA. I agree with you thar they should be able to keep 3 for a practice squad in case of injuries. As mentioned below, what happens when 3 of their players leave for overseas commitments? They have to eat that as well and play with 7? If that's the case they have to keep Mackenzie Holmes because they'll lose two bigs in Li and Dom. What a nightmare. I had high hopes for this season but not so much anymore.
Also, I don't think Sundell makes this roster from what I saw lastnight. She looked lost on multiple occasions. And if they keep Wheeler I don't see them keeping two point guards.
I really like Zia Cooke, but this team needs outside shooting not penetrators. I don't see her making the roster.
I still have hope! It's a long season. I think they will struggle but will still make the playoffs. And if the storm can get into the playoffs as a decent seed who knows what can happen.
There definitely needs to be a change in the CBA to better account for the roster problems under the current system. The Storm was hit with a triple blow with the KLS injury (lost player productivity, lost salary, lost roster spot). At a minimum, I'd advocate for a system similar to MLB's long-term (60 day IL) exemption, where players with long term injuries are removable from the active and reserve rosters, so they no longer count against the limits. I'd love it if salaries could be replaced under such circumstances, but I'll file that under "pipe dreams," along with practice/developmental squad slots.
Good article. I don’t worry about the timing as content is more important than speed.
I thought Li and Mack looked good. Sundell appeared lost. They need a practice squad or some type of development system. Probably not likely if WNBA is really keen on expanding to 16 or 18 teams.
Great article! The roster implications bc of kls injury & no roster expansion puts seattle in a horrible situation. They will possibly only have SEVEN players in June. Li, gabby & Dom will likely be overseas for national team commitments.
If that ends up being the case, the team will be allowed to sign hardship contracts. In fact, I believe if the team were to have one more injury or severe illness to drop them below 10 healthy players, then they would be allowed to sign hardship contracts. This is why I really hope with next year's CBA that they either expand rosters to 13 or 14 players or they keep rosters at 12 but allow for 2-3 practice squad players whose salary can be below the standard vet/rookie minimum.
I think with 3 ACL tears, & 3 INTs would be a reasonable argument for hardship contracts come June. We will have a little bit of cap left over…about $25K to sign week-week players.
As an IU alum, I had my eyes on Mack. Things I noticed, is her footwork is still great. She is a ball hawk…even not right next to the ball she would hustle for a loose ball. She also was very vocal and not in a “desperate rookie” way. She really played better than I expected (as good as I feel she is, I have had lengthy discussions with my IU friends that I felt her making a roster would be very difficult). She did get beat a few times getting boards, but she did get boards—that will improve with experience.
Zia Cooke looked pretty good out there once she warmed up. She too was a hustler and her extra time in the W showed well over the rookies IMO.
The true rookies really looked lost out there. I think they are going to need time in Europe to develop. To your point—we 💯 need some sort of development expansion in this next CBA because 1-3 games and less than 2 months of practice is not enough for many of these talented fringe players.
I really hope you’re right and they sign Mack. I think there are enough teams out there with potential roster spots that if she hits FA, she will get snagged up. Unfortunately (or fortunately for Zia), so will Cooke.
I watched Lexie FYI, she fed Mack a couple of good dimes in traffic and held her own defensively.
I think it's a great point about Zia's extra time in the W helping her. She was the draft pick right after Jordan Horston in the 2023 WNBA Draft, so she is still very young as well (24). She did look a lot more comfortable out there compared to Sundell and the other rookies from this 2025 draft class. Unless something unexpected happens like a signing from outside the current group or a trade, it sure feels like that last roster spot will probably come down to between Mackenzie Holmes and Zia Cooke.
As I watched the game, I knew you had to be thrilled with Holmes' performance. There was a lot more athleticism than I ever remember seeing at IU. Her basketball IQ also really showed. She should be close to a lock for the roster, especially if she can stretch the floor even a little bit.
If that's the case they need to keep Mackenzie Holmes because they'll have no size off the bench. This is an awful situation. The CBA definitely needs to be changed to address this.
I have a question for you, and I can’t find an answer online.
The Storm and KOMO made much of their OTA coverage. So people without cable will still be able to watch using antenna. What about those of us outside the KOMO signal range?
I live in Bellingham so far it sounds like my only options would be YouTube TV, or some other service that carries KOMO. Which isn’t great. The services cost about $80/month, and carry a lot of content I don’t care about.
Last season the Kraken made sure that their games remained accessible throughout the state. Are the Storm going to do that as well?
Also, the team announced today that you can watch all of their non-Nationally Televised games on Amazon Prime Video. That's another option and cheaper than YouTube TV.
Thanks for such a detailed response! Sounds like the Storm are going to make their games available on Amazon Prime Video, which is ideal for me. That’s how I watched Kraken games last season as well
Hi Thomas, I'll do my best to answer with what I know. I think my first suggestion would be to see if there is anyway to boost your antenna signal. You could look online to see if there are any antennas that state they have a farther-reaching range than your current one. I'm not sure what your current setup is, but if your antenna is several years old, it wouldn't hurt to double-check to see if you could buy a newer one.
I just did a quick Amazon search and this one is less than $20 and states it can get range up to 900 miles which would cover more than the state of Washington.
I believe there are also "Antenna Boosters" that you could look up to see. Either way, I know Amazon has very good return policies generally so it wouldn't hurt to give one a try and see if it fixes your issue of not getting a signal.
I have YouTube TV and I think it's great but it doesn't sound like you want to go that route as it is the most expensive. Buying that $18 antenna might solve your problem. But if you do get YouTube TV, they have Komo and the CW but the CW is called "Arc Seattle" on YouTube TV. I figured I'd mention that in case you couldn't find the CW, I didn't want you to think you couldn't watch the Storm games.
Lastly, there is always the WNBA League Pass. I think the local games might be blocked or blacked out but there are a couple of options. Either you could just watch them on delay which I know isn't ideal but would be much cheaper than paying for YouTube TV if that isn't within the budget. Alternatively, if you are familiar with VPN's, I think you could change your location to a different part of the country and then stream the Storm games live via League Pass.
Hey Jeff - Do you know why some teams have multiple pre-season games, while others - such as the Storm, only get one? That seems like a competitive advantage to those teams who get to play multiple times, not to mention go up against multiple teams. I suppose that means more opportunity for injuries as well, but...hmm. Just curious.
The Storm have traditionally always had just two preseason games and there have been some years where they're doing what they're doing this year which is having one preseason game and then another unofficial preseason game which is basically a private scrimmage against another team.
I'd have to check around the league schedules but from what I've seen almost every WNBA team is playing just two preseason games. I think the only teams playing more than two are the ones that also played the Brazilian National team (the Sky and Fever). I don't think I've seen any WNBA team scheduled to play 4 preseason games.
So the majority of WNBA teams are playing 2 official preseason games and the Storm are playing 1 official and 1 unofficial.
In the grand scheme, I don't think there is any huge competitive advantage. Maybe a slight one but every team is going to take some time to being used to playing together usually and as you point out, more preseason games also means more chances of players getting injured. Sadly, Jordin Canada just went down with a bad injury yesterday.
From what I know, it is a closed practice. It's not an official preseason game. It's more like how the team will normally practice and end their practices with scrimmages against one another and versus the men's practice squad that the Storm go up against, but instead of that, it would be the Storm players scrimmaging in a practice setting against the Sparks players. There won't be any Zoom Media availability and in-person Media down in LA are only allowed to come in during the final 15-30 mins.
Your content is never spam! As a paid subscriber, I'll take all the Storm writing I can get.
What’s funny is that I will occasionally write up a lengthy, detailed, informative article and release it free to all subscribers and then immediately see some free subscribers unsubscribe right after that email gets sent out. I’m always baffled by that because I’m not sure what they were expecting when they signed up. Unless, they were expecting actual Tornado Wrangling like from the movie Twisters.
The Storm are in an awful spot due to injuries and a horrible CBA. I agree with you thar they should be able to keep 3 for a practice squad in case of injuries. As mentioned below, what happens when 3 of their players leave for overseas commitments? They have to eat that as well and play with 7? If that's the case they have to keep Mackenzie Holmes because they'll lose two bigs in Li and Dom. What a nightmare. I had high hopes for this season but not so much anymore.
Also, I don't think Sundell makes this roster from what I saw lastnight. She looked lost on multiple occasions. And if they keep Wheeler I don't see them keeping two point guards.
I really like Zia Cooke, but this team needs outside shooting not penetrators. I don't see her making the roster.
I still have hope! It's a long season. I think they will struggle but will still make the playoffs. And if the storm can get into the playoffs as a decent seed who knows what can happen.
There definitely needs to be a change in the CBA to better account for the roster problems under the current system. The Storm was hit with a triple blow with the KLS injury (lost player productivity, lost salary, lost roster spot). At a minimum, I'd advocate for a system similar to MLB's long-term (60 day IL) exemption, where players with long term injuries are removable from the active and reserve rosters, so they no longer count against the limits. I'd love it if salaries could be replaced under such circumstances, but I'll file that under "pipe dreams," along with practice/developmental squad slots.
Good article. I don’t worry about the timing as content is more important than speed.
I thought Li and Mack looked good. Sundell appeared lost. They need a practice squad or some type of development system. Probably not likely if WNBA is really keen on expanding to 16 or 18 teams.
Great article! The roster implications bc of kls injury & no roster expansion puts seattle in a horrible situation. They will possibly only have SEVEN players in June. Li, gabby & Dom will likely be overseas for national team commitments.
If that ends up being the case, the team will be allowed to sign hardship contracts. In fact, I believe if the team were to have one more injury or severe illness to drop them below 10 healthy players, then they would be allowed to sign hardship contracts. This is why I really hope with next year's CBA that they either expand rosters to 13 or 14 players or they keep rosters at 12 but allow for 2-3 practice squad players whose salary can be below the standard vet/rookie minimum.
I think with 3 ACL tears, & 3 INTs would be a reasonable argument for hardship contracts come June. We will have a little bit of cap left over…about $25K to sign week-week players.
As an IU alum, I had my eyes on Mack. Things I noticed, is her footwork is still great. She is a ball hawk…even not right next to the ball she would hustle for a loose ball. She also was very vocal and not in a “desperate rookie” way. She really played better than I expected (as good as I feel she is, I have had lengthy discussions with my IU friends that I felt her making a roster would be very difficult). She did get beat a few times getting boards, but she did get boards—that will improve with experience.
Zia Cooke looked pretty good out there once she warmed up. She too was a hustler and her extra time in the W showed well over the rookies IMO.
The true rookies really looked lost out there. I think they are going to need time in Europe to develop. To your point—we 💯 need some sort of development expansion in this next CBA because 1-3 games and less than 2 months of practice is not enough for many of these talented fringe players.
I really hope you’re right and they sign Mack. I think there are enough teams out there with potential roster spots that if she hits FA, she will get snagged up. Unfortunately (or fortunately for Zia), so will Cooke.
I watched Lexie FYI, she fed Mack a couple of good dimes in traffic and held her own defensively.
I think it's a great point about Zia's extra time in the W helping her. She was the draft pick right after Jordan Horston in the 2023 WNBA Draft, so she is still very young as well (24). She did look a lot more comfortable out there compared to Sundell and the other rookies from this 2025 draft class. Unless something unexpected happens like a signing from outside the current group or a trade, it sure feels like that last roster spot will probably come down to between Mackenzie Holmes and Zia Cooke.
As I watched the game, I knew you had to be thrilled with Holmes' performance. There was a lot more athleticism than I ever remember seeing at IU. Her basketball IQ also really showed. She should be close to a lock for the roster, especially if she can stretch the floor even a little bit.
If that's the case they need to keep Mackenzie Holmes because they'll have no size off the bench. This is an awful situation. The CBA definitely needs to be changed to address this.
Its a lose lose situation bc we if keep mack & not zia we won't have guard depth either. We really need BOTH Zia & Mack.
Sorry I ended up replying to the article in the same response to your comment!
I have a question for you, and I can’t find an answer online.
The Storm and KOMO made much of their OTA coverage. So people without cable will still be able to watch using antenna. What about those of us outside the KOMO signal range?
I live in Bellingham so far it sounds like my only options would be YouTube TV, or some other service that carries KOMO. Which isn’t great. The services cost about $80/month, and carry a lot of content I don’t care about.
Last season the Kraken made sure that their games remained accessible throughout the state. Are the Storm going to do that as well?
Also, the team announced today that you can watch all of their non-Nationally Televised games on Amazon Prime Video. That's another option and cheaper than YouTube TV.
Thanks for such a detailed response! Sounds like the Storm are going to make their games available on Amazon Prime Video, which is ideal for me. That’s how I watched Kraken games last season as well
Hi Thomas, I'll do my best to answer with what I know. I think my first suggestion would be to see if there is anyway to boost your antenna signal. You could look online to see if there are any antennas that state they have a farther-reaching range than your current one. I'm not sure what your current setup is, but if your antenna is several years old, it wouldn't hurt to double-check to see if you could buy a newer one.
I just did a quick Amazon search and this one is less than $20 and states it can get range up to 900 miles which would cover more than the state of Washington.
https://www.amazon.com/Antenna-Indoor-Supports-Reception-Amplifier/dp/B0D5YH3R5C/ref=sr_1_4?crid=1Z0FSB6JT9NED&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.Zh2IAhYIxnd2MYmGdj_SGrJPCjkwvQGuCCvthsTyGoubmsEn-W4uNcXc5guEGD8p5gIS0S9eLEdsJYplC-yWHqceoM43pV8SUwX2FG6iqKHjCLf2avpN-ehV1qMW9mglQsi-uLJoYFqrnNH5iTwitPpFh5FtK1vDBOIYlhanR98lZy7sDrZk77DywzCB3yWhWkYgkbK0ZM-3Sl51I80PvDSLyM4punnCQFxSuV1L7HQ.XZc5mU7jb5w56xUilLs8i7KmWW5KE7A1KmuK0jcNrbs&dib_tag=se&keywords=TV+antenna&qid=1747375988&sprefix=tv+antenna%2Caps%2C175&sr=8-4
I believe there are also "Antenna Boosters" that you could look up to see. Either way, I know Amazon has very good return policies generally so it wouldn't hurt to give one a try and see if it fixes your issue of not getting a signal.
I have YouTube TV and I think it's great but it doesn't sound like you want to go that route as it is the most expensive. Buying that $18 antenna might solve your problem. But if you do get YouTube TV, they have Komo and the CW but the CW is called "Arc Seattle" on YouTube TV. I figured I'd mention that in case you couldn't find the CW, I didn't want you to think you couldn't watch the Storm games.
Lastly, there is always the WNBA League Pass. I think the local games might be blocked or blacked out but there are a couple of options. Either you could just watch them on delay which I know isn't ideal but would be much cheaper than paying for YouTube TV if that isn't within the budget. Alternatively, if you are familiar with VPN's, I think you could change your location to a different part of the country and then stream the Storm games live via League Pass.
I hope I was able to help!
Hey Jeff - Do you know why some teams have multiple pre-season games, while others - such as the Storm, only get one? That seems like a competitive advantage to those teams who get to play multiple times, not to mention go up against multiple teams. I suppose that means more opportunity for injuries as well, but...hmm. Just curious.
The Storm have traditionally always had just two preseason games and there have been some years where they're doing what they're doing this year which is having one preseason game and then another unofficial preseason game which is basically a private scrimmage against another team.
I'd have to check around the league schedules but from what I've seen almost every WNBA team is playing just two preseason games. I think the only teams playing more than two are the ones that also played the Brazilian National team (the Sky and Fever). I don't think I've seen any WNBA team scheduled to play 4 preseason games.
So the majority of WNBA teams are playing 2 official preseason games and the Storm are playing 1 official and 1 unofficial.
In the grand scheme, I don't think there is any huge competitive advantage. Maybe a slight one but every team is going to take some time to being used to playing together usually and as you point out, more preseason games also means more chances of players getting injured. Sadly, Jordin Canada just went down with a bad injury yesterday.
Gabby and Li cannot go overseas in June due to the Prioritization Rule. Only Malonga can because she is in her first 3 years.
I guess i got confused on when prioritization took place as I thought it was only about being there before a certain date prior to the regular season.
It’s about being there for the whole season. Your priority is the WNBA. Only your team can release you to go anywhere else.
Jeff... Is the scrimmage on Saturday against the sparks open or closed?
From what I know, it is a closed practice. It's not an official preseason game. It's more like how the team will normally practice and end their practices with scrimmages against one another and versus the men's practice squad that the Storm go up against, but instead of that, it would be the Storm players scrimmaging in a practice setting against the Sparks players. There won't be any Zoom Media availability and in-person Media down in LA are only allowed to come in during the final 15-30 mins.
Cooke is rookie Jordin Canada. I mean that in a good way.
Sundell is Nika Muhl 2.0.
Whether it's Holmes, Cooke, or Sundell, they'll be the 10th player on the bench.