2019 Seattle Storm season

The 2019 WNBA season was the 20th season for the Seattle Storm of the Women's National Basketball Association. The regular season began on May 25 with a game against the Phoenix Mercury.^[1]

2019 Seattle Storm season
Coach	Dan Hughes
Arena	Alaska Airlines Arena Angel of the Winds Arena
Attendance	7,562 per game
Results
Record	18–16 (.529)
Place	3rd (Western)
Playoff finish	6th Seed; Lost in 2nd Round to Los Angeles
Team Leaders
Points	Natasha Howard – 18.1 ppg
Rebounds	Natasha Howard – 8.2 rpg
Assists	Jordin Canada – 5.2 apg
Media
Television	KZJO (JOEtv)
← 2018 season 2020 season →

The Storm in action against Dallas

On August 15, 2018 the Seattle Storm announced that they would play their regular season games at the University of Washington's Alaska Airlines Arena while KeyArena undergoes renovations for the Seattle Kraken of the NHL.^[2] The Storm will play five games at the Angel of the Winds Arena in Everett, Washington.^[3]

During the preseason, two of the Storm's prominent stars were injured. Breanna Stewart, the 2018 WNBA MVP, ruptured her Achilles tendon while playing in the EuroLeague for Dynamo Kursk. Stewart underwent surgery, and is expected to recover in time for the 2020 season, but miss the entirety of 2019.^[4] Sue Bird underwent arthroscopic surgery to remove a loose body in her left knee and would miss the entire 2019 season. Bird was selected to the All Star Game in 2018, and was the team leader in assists.^[5]

For the first six games of the season, the Storm alternated winning a game and losing a game. Through the month of June, they could not win more than two games in a row, and finished June with an 8–6 record. July was a streak filled month, with the team winning four games in a row, after starting the month with two home losses to Atlanta Dream and New York Liberty. The Dream and Liberty ended up having the worst records in the WNBA. However, they finished the month with a 12–9 overall record, and an eye toward a playoff berth. August proved difficult as the team went 3–6 during the month. The month ended on a high note when they secured a playoff berth on August 29. They finished the season strong, going 3–1 in September to lock up the number six playoff seed.

As the #6 seed, Seattle hosted the #7 seed Minnesota Lynx in the first round of the playoffs. The Storm were able to advance to the second round with a ten point win. In the second round, the #3 seeded Los Angeles Sparks proved to be too much for the Storm, and their season ended with a twenty three point loss at the Staples Center.

Transactions

WNBA draft

See also: 2019 WNBA draft

Round	Pick	Player	Nationality	School/Team/Country
1	12	Ezi Magbegor	Australia	Melbourne Boomers (Australia)
2	24	Anriel Howard	United States	Mississippi State
3	36	Macy Miller	United States	South Dakota State

Trades and roster changes

Date	Details
February 1, 2019	Re-Signed F Crystal Langhorne[6][7]
	Re-Signed C Mercedes Russell[6][7]
February 7, 2019	Signed Teana Muldrow to Training Camp Contract[8]
April 11, 2019	Signed G Shavonte Zellous[9][10]
April 18, 2019	Signed F Zykera Rice to Training Camp Contract[11]
	Signed G Presley Hudson to Training Camp Contract[11]
	Signed G Receé Caldwell to Training Camp Contract[11]
May 2, 2019	Signed G Brooke Salas to Training Camp Contract[12]

Roster

2019 Seattle Storm roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. No. Nat. Name Height Weight DOB From Yrs G 10 Bird, Sue  5' 9" (1.75m) 150 lb (68kg) 1980-10-16 Connecticut 16 G 21 Canada, Jordin 5' 6" (1.68m) 1995-08-11 UCLA 1 F 32 Clark, Alysha 5' 11" (1.8m) 167 lb (76kg) 1987-07-07 Middle Tennessee 7 G 12 Dietrick, Blake 5' 10" (1.78m) 157 lb (71kg) 1993-07-19 Princeton 2 F 6 Howard, Natasha 6' 2" (1.88m) 165 lb (75kg) 1991-09-02 Florida State 5 F/C 1 Langhorne, Crystal 6' 2" (1.88m) 185 lb (84kg) 1986-10-27 Maryland 11 G 24 Loyd, Jewell 5' 10" (1.78m) 148 lb (67kg) 1993-10-05 Notre Dame 4 F 23 Mosqueda-Lewis, Kaleena 5' 11" (1.8m) 180 lb (82kg) 1993-11-03 Connecticut 4 C 3 Paris, Courtney 6' 4" (1.93m) 250 lb (113kg) 1987-97-21 Oklahoma 9 G 2 Russell, Mercedes 6' 6" (1.98m) 1995-07-27 Tennessee 1 F 30 Stewart, Breanna  (S) 6' 4" (1.93m) 170 lb (77kg) 1994-08-27 Connecticut 3 G/F 33 Whitcomb, Sami 5' 10" (1.78m) 145 lb (66kg) 1988-07-20 Washington 2 G 11 Zellous, Shavonte 5' 10" (1.78m) 188 lb (85kg) 1986-08-28 Pittsburgh 10	Head coach Dan Hughes (Muskingum) Assistant coaches Gary Kloppenburg (UC San Diego) Noelle Quinn (UCLA) Athletic trainer Tom Spencer (Central Washington) Legend (C) Team captain (DP) Unsigned draft pick (FA) Free agent (S) Suspended Injured

Game log

Preseason

2019 pre-season game log
May: 0–2 (Home: 0–1; Road: 0–1) Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location Attendance Record 1 May 15 Phoenix Mercury L 84–87 Tied (15) Tied (7) Canada (5) Angel of the Winds Arena 3,076 0–1 2 May 17 @ Los Angeles Sparks L 85–92 Canada (18) Russell (9) Canada (6) Hutto-Patterson Gym N/A 0–2
2019 pre-season schedule

Regular season

2019 game log Total: 18–16 (Home: 11–6; Road: 7–10)
May: 2–1 (Home: 1–0; Road: 1–1) Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location Attendance Record 1 May 25 Phoenix Mercury W 77–68 Howard (21) Howard (16) Canada (6) Angel of the Winds Arena 8,500 1–0 2 May 29 @ Minnesota Lynx L 61–72 Howard (18) Tied (5) Canada (4) Target Center 8,092 1–1 3 May 31 @ Atlanta Dream W 82–66 Howard (19) Howard (14) Canada (7) State Farm Arena 2,119 2–1
June : 6–5 (Home: 4–1; Road: 2–4) Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location Attendance Record 4 June 1 @ Chicago Sky L 79–83 Howard (21) Howard (9) Canada (6) Wintrust Arena 7,063 2–2 5 June 4 Minnesota Lynx W 84–77 Loyd (19) Howard (6) Canada (7) Angel of the Winds Arena 5,711 3–2 6 June 9 @ Chicago Sky L 71–78 Tied (20) Tied (6) Canada (5) Wintrust Arena 5,032 3–3 7 June 11 @ Indiana Fever W 84–82 Howard (26) Howard (9) Tied (6) Bankers Life Fieldhouse 3,506 4–3 8 June 14 @ Washington Mystics W 74–71 Howard (19) Tied (11) Clark (5) St. Elizabeth's East Arena 3,654 5–3 10 June 16 @ Connecticut Sun L 67–81 Howard (20) Howard (8) Tied (3) Mohegan Sun Arena 7,773 5–4 11 June 21 Los Angeles Sparks W 84–62 Loyd (23) Clark (10) Tied (3) Angel of the Winds Arena 6,114 6–4 12 June 23 Indiana Fever W 65–61 Loyd (21) Tied (6) Howard (4) Alaska Airlines Arena 7,211 7–4 12 June 25 @ Las Vegas Aces L 56–60 Howard (14) Howard (12) 3 tied (3) Mandalay Bay Events Center 4,215 7–5 13 June 28 Chicago Sky W 79–76 Canada (17) Howard (9) Tied (3) Alaska Airlines Arena 7,915 8–5 14 June 30 Phoenix Mercury L 67–69 Whitcomb (13) Howard (8) Howard (5) Alaska Airlines Arena 8,002 8–6
July : 4–3 (Home: 3–2; Road: 1–1) Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location Attendance Record 15 July 3 New York Liberty L 83–84 Russell (19) Clark (9) Canada (7) Alaska Airlines Arena 8,710 8–7 16 July 5 Atlanta Dream L 66–77 Howard (20) Russell (9) Whitcomb (5) Alaska Airlines Arena 8,111 8–8 17 July 12 Dallas Wings W 95–81 Mosqueda-Lewis (18) Russell (8) Canada (12) Alaska Airlines Arena 6,451 9–8 18 July 14 New York Liberty W 78–69 Langhorne (19) Canada (9) Canada (8) Alaska Airlines Arena 6,733 10–8 19 July 17 @ Minnesota Lynx W 90–79 Howard (33) Russell (9) Whitcomb (8) Target Center 8,403 11–8 20 July 19 Las Vegas Aces W 69–66 Howard (21) Howard (10) Canada (4) Alaska Airlines Arena 9,000 12–8 21 July 23 @ Las Vegas Aces L 62–79 Tied (13) Howard (10) Clark (4) Mandalay Bay Events Center 5,193 12–9
August : 3–6 (Home: 2–3; Road: 1–3) Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location Attendance Record 22 August 2 Washington Mystics L 79–99 Howard (26) 3 tied (6) Canada (6) Angel of the Winds Arena 7,488 12–10 23 August 4 @ Los Angeles Sparks L 75–83 Tied (16) Russell (9) Howard (5) Staples Center 12,820 12–11 24 August 8 Dallas Wings W 69–57 Howard (23) Howard (11) Canada (6) Angel of the Winds Arena 6,268 13–11 25 August 11 @ New York Liberty W 84–69 Clark (21) Tied (8) Russell (6) Barclays Center 7,715 14–11 26 August 14 @ Washington Mystics L 59–88 Howard (24) Howard (8) Howard (4) St. Elizabeth's East Arena 3,917 14–12 27 August 16 @ Connecticut Sun L 78–79 Howard (27) Howard (10) 3 tied (4) Mohegan Sun Arena 7,092 14–13 28 August 18 Minnesota Lynx W 82–74 Canada (14) Tied (6) Canada (6) Alaska Airlines Arena 9,000 15–13 29 August 25 Indiana Fever L 54–63 Howard (14) Howard (9) Howard (5) Alaska Airlines Arena 8,076 15–14 30 August 27 Connecticut Sun L 89–70 Loyd (18) Howard (7) Canada (5) Alaska Airlines Arena 6,258 15–15
September : 3–1 (Home: 1–0; Road: 2–1) Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location Attendance Record 31 September 1 Atlanta Dream W 92–75 Canada (21) Tied (8) Canada (8) Alaska Airlines Arena 9,000 16–15 32 September 3 @ Phoenix Mercury W 82–70 Howard (22) Howard (12) Canada (10) Talking Stick Resort Arena 8,724 17–15 33 September 5 @ Los Angeles Sparks L 68–102 Tied (13) Russell (8) Howard (4) Staples Center 10,591 17–16 34 September 8 @ Dallas Wings W 78–64 Howard (22) Howard (9) Tied (5) College Park Center 5,910 18–16
2019 season schedule

Playoffs

2019 playoff game log Total: 1–1 (Home: 1–0; Road: 0–1)
First Round: 1–0 (Home: 1–0; Road: 0–0) Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location Attendance Series 1 September 11 Minnesota Lynx W 84–74 Canada (26) Russell (9) Howard (6) Angel of the Winds Arena 5,011 1–0
Second Round: 0–1 (Home: 0–0; Road: 0–1) Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location Attendance Series 1 September 15 Los Angeles Sparks L 69–92 Howard (20) Howard (11) Canada (7) Staples Center 9,081 0–1
2019 playoff schedule

Awards and honors

Recipient	Award	Date awarded	Ref.
Natasha Howard	WNBA Western Conference Player of the Week	June 3, 2019	[13]
		June 17, 2019	[14]
	WNBA Western Conference Player of the Month - June	July 1, 2019	[15]
Jewell Loyd	WNBA All-Star Selection	July 15, 2019	[16]
Natasha Howard
Natasha Howard	WNBA Western Conference Player of the Week	July 22, 2019	[17]
Natasha Howard	Defensive Player of the Year Award	September 11, 2019	[18]

Standings

#	Western Conference v t e	W	L	PCT	GB	Home	Road	Conf.
1	Los Angeles Sparks (3)	22	12	.647	–	15–2	7–10	10–6
2	Las Vegas Aces (4)	21	13	.618	1	13–4	8–9	11–5
3	Seattle Storm (6)	18	16	.529	4	11–6	7–10	10–6
4	Minnesota Lynx (7)	18	16	.529	4	11–6	7–10	7–9
5	Phoenix Mercury (8)	15	19	.441	7	9–8	6–11	5–11
6	e – Dallas Wings	10	24	.294	12	8–9	2–15	5–11

Notes

(#) – Conference Standing, Playoff Seeds shown to the right of team name

e – Eliminated from playoffs

Playoffs

Main article: 2019 WNBA Playoffs

	First round: Single elimination (Sept. 11)					Second round: Single elimination (Sept. 15)					Semifinals: Best-of-five (Sept. 17 – Sept. 24)								WNBA Finals: Best-of-five (Sept. 29 – Oct. 10)
											1	Washington Mystics	97	103	75	94
						4	Las Vegas Aces	93			4	Las Vegas Aces	95	91	92	90
	5	Chicago Sky	105			5	Chicago Sky	92											1	Washington Mystics	95	87	94	86	89
	8	Phoenix Mercury	76																2	Connecticut Sun	86	99	81	90	78
											2	Connecticut Sun		84	94	78
						3	Los Angeles Sparks	92			3	Los Angeles Sparks		75	68	56
	6	Seattle Storm	84			6	Seattle Storm	69
	7	Minnesota Lynx	74

Note: Teams re-seeded after each round.

Statistics

Legend
GP	Games played	GS	Games started	MPG	Minutes per game	RPG	Rebounds per game
APG	Assists per game	SPG	Steals per game	BPG	Blocks per game	PPG	Points per game
FG%	Field-goal percentage	3P%	3-point field-goal percentage	FT%	Free-throw percentage	TO	Turnovers per game
PF	Fouls per game		Team leader		League leader

Regular season

Player	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
Natasha Howard	34	34	31.4	43.9	30.8	81.0	8.2	2.1	2.2	1.7	18.1
Jewell Loyd	27	21	25.4	39.1	33.7	92.8	2.7	2.0	1.3	0.1	12.3
Jordin Canada	30	29	28.8	38.8	18.6	76.8	2.4	5.2	2.3	0.2	9.8
Alysha Clark	31	30	28.4	48.1	48.1	81.8	4.7	2.5	1.1	0.5	9.6
Mercedes Russell	34	30	25.6	51.7	0.0	64.6	6.1	1.0	1.1	0.5	7.5
Sami Whitcomb	33	13	20.4	36.8	34.2	100	1.7	2.4	1.1	0.1	7.2
Crystal Langhorne	34	4	17.0	40.9	31.6	75.0	3.1	1.0	0.3	0.3	5.6
Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis	31	4	14.0	39.9	34.1	100	1.2	0.5	0.3	0.2	5.5
Shavonte Zellous	31	4	13.9	37.6	18.8	75.0	1.5	1.5	0.3	0.2	4.0
Courtney Paris	30	0	6.3	40.0	0	42.9	1.7	0.4	0.3	0.1	0.5
Blake Dietrick	17	1	6.2	10.0	0	66.7	0.6	0.9	0.2	0.1	0.4