The post Fatal flaw Storm must fix before 2025 WNBA playoffs appeared first on ClutchPoints.
With just two weeks remaining in the 2025 WNBA regular season, the Seattle Storm are on track to sneak into the back end of the playoffs. However, before beginning postseason play, head coach Noelle Quinn has a lot to address with her team if they are going to have any success.
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As August comes to a close, the Storm have just three regular-season games in September. They currently sit on a 22-19 record, good for seventh place in the league. The 2025 WNBA playoffs will accept the top eight teams, currently putting Seattle on track to make the cut.
The 2025 season has been nothing short of a roller coaster for the Storm, who cannot seem to find a consistent rhythm. A six-game skid at the beginning of August nearly pushed them out of the playoffs, but Seattle responded by ending the month on a 6-2 tear. The win streak put them back over .500, but not by a comfortable margin.
Entering the final month of the season, the Storm are one game behind the Indiana Fever for sixth place and 1.5 games ahead of the Golden State Valkyries, who sit in eighth. They are also only two games ahead of the ninth-place Los Angeles Sparks. The Fever, Valkyries and Sparks all play on Sunday night in the final games of August and have a chance to alter the standings before September.
As the playoffs quickly approach, the Storm still have the same issue they have dealt with throughout the 2025 WNBA season. Despite former All-WNBA defenders Nneka Ogwumike and Ezi Magbegor anchoring its frontcourt, Seattle continues to struggle to defend the paint and contain the glass. If left unresolved, the issue will inevitably lead to their demise in the postseason.
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Noelle Quinn needs to address Storm’s interior struggles
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The Storm have consistently been a top-five defensive team throughout the 2025 season, making their interior struggles even more puzzling. Seattle allows just 79.9 points per game, the fifth-fewest, while boasting a 101.3 defensive rating, third-best in the league.
Despite the strong numbers, the Storm have been one of the worst defensive teams in paint all season long. At the end of August, they are allowing 38.0 points in the paint, third-most in the league. Only the Connecticut Sun and Los Angeles Sparks — two teams outside of the playoff picture, with the Sun already eliminated — allow more points inside.
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At the beginning of the season, the trend seemed like a fluke. Noelle Quinn routinely constructs gritty defenses, and the personnel she had to work with perfectly fit that mold. But Seattle failed to improve at all throughout the season, even after rookie sensation Dominique Malonga became a fixture of the rotation.
When breaking down their defensive numbers, the Storm are allowing the second-fewest points to opposing guards, but the fourth-most to forwards. They are particularly struggling against perimeter-oriented forwards.
Seattle is also struggling on the glass, as it averages the fewest rebounds in the league while allowing the most to its opponents. They subsequently rank seventh in opponent offensive rebounds and eighth in second chance points allowed.
Storm’s continuous size issue
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There is no singular issue, but part of the Storm’s struggles stems from utilizing Gabby Williams as an on-ball defender. As effective as she is on the perimeter — Williams leads the league with 2.3 steals per game — her presence around the arc often forces one of Brittney Sykes or Skylar Diggins to defend the corner.
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The tactic has created an elite perimeter defense, but it also gives Ogwumike, Magbegor and Malonga additional responsibilities on the glass and as secondary defenders. The issue stems from Seattle’s failure to acquire another elite perimeter defender at the trade deadline, which would have allowed the 5-foot-11 Williams to provide additional help inside.
Fatigue could also be an issue, with five key rotational players over the age of 30. Noelle Quinn has maintained a strict eight-player rotation all season. Tired legs could be setting in, particularly given the physical nature of the team’s play on a nightly basis.
Whatever the issue might be, the Storm only have three games to get right before the 2025 WNBA playoffs begin. It is too late at this point in the year to make any further roster changes, but Quinn must find a way to address that part of her team’s game if Seattle wants to make another title run.
