The Seattle Storm started last week with an overtime loss to the Dallas Wings to set the franchise record for consecutive losses (11). They ended it with back-to-back victories over the Atlanta Dream and New York Liberty -- two of the leading title contenders -- to prove why they have the most promising young core in the league.
After a two-year experiment to build a title contender around Nneka Ogwumike and Skylar Diggins, the Storm pivoted to a rebuild this offseason that, despite a 5-15 record that is better only than the Connecticut Sun, is already off to an incredible start.
They selected Dominique Malonga with the No. 2 pick in last year's draft. This year, Awa Fam fell to them at No. 3 and they swindled the Golden State Valkyries for Flau'jae Johnson, who was the No. 8 selection.
That trio combined for 63 points, 25 rebounds, six assists, three steals and three blocks in their win over the Liberty and 61 points, 23 rebounds, eight assists, four steals and four blocks in their win over the Dream. Oh, and they shot a combined 50 of 78 (64.1%) from the field in those two games, including 15 of 26 (57.7%) from 3-point range.
While those performances may have been outliers this season, they were a window into the future in Seattle. For the season, the Storm have a minus-6.4 net rating, which ranks 13th in the league. In the 145 minutes that Malonga, Fam and Johnson have played together, they have a plus-3.2 net rating.
Malonga and Fam, who hail from France and Spain, respectively, are both just 20 years old – the same age as UConn junior Sarah Strong – and Johnson is 22. No other team has as much young talent. Of the 33 players 22 years old or younger who have appeared in a game this season, only eight are scoring in double digits; three of them are on the Storm.
The Storm's four titles are tied for the most in WNBA history. They won't add another this season, but after watching Malonga, Fam and Johnson take care of the Dream and Liberty, it's not hard to imagine them lifting a fifth trophy some day in Seattle.
Here are CBS Sports' latest WNBA Power Rankings:
Biggest Movers 4 Valkyries 5 Sparks RkTeams ChgRcrd 1
Aces A hush fell over the United Center when A'ja Wilson went down Sunday after rolling her ankle, but she returned to the game and finished with 30 points, 15 rebounds, four steals and three blocks in a win over the Sky. Despite the result, Becky Hammon wasn't thrilled with the Aces' defense in that game. "We outscored somebody, that's not the way I want to win games," Hammon said. The Aces are still first in offensive rating (112.5), but are eighth in defensive rating (107.3) - the worst mark among teams with a winning record. -- 2 
Lynx The Lynx weren't at their best this week, but they pulled off a 12-point fourth-quarter comeback to beat the Mystics, then held off a comeback attempt from the Wings to maintain their hold on first place in the standings. Natasha Howard averaged 21 points, 14.5 rebounds and 2.5 steals in those two wins to continue her incredible renaissance. She's up to 17.7 points, 8.2 rebounds and 1.9 steals per game for the season - all her best marks since 2019. -- 3 
Valkyries What a week for the Valkyries, who swept their three-game homestand against the Dream and Liberty, and have won seven of their last nine games to climb into third place. They are now 10-3 at home in Ballhalla this season, compared to 3-4 on the road. As we saw this week, their defense is significantly better with their raucous crowd behind them. They have a 98.8 defensive rating at home, compared to a 108.3 defensive rating on the road. 4 4 
Liberty Breanna Stewart sounded the alarms by questioning the Liberty's desire to play through tough moments after their loss to the Valkyries, which closed out their grueling four-game West Coast trip. "You can't play with heart and play with effort just when things are going good," Stewart said. After an eight-game winning streak, the Liberty have now lost four of their last five to fall to fifth place in the standings - a disappointing start through 20 games given their talent. -- 5 
Dream The Dream went winless on their West Coast road trip, including a surprise defeat to the second-to-last-place Storm, and have now lost three games in a row for the first time since 2024. They scored a season-low 66 points in their first loss to the Valkyries, then recorded a season-worst 34.3% field goal percentage in their second loss to Golden State. Their offensive rating fell from 112.6 at the start of the week to 110.1, which dropped them from first to fifth in the league. 2 6 
Fever A drama-filled season in Indianapolis continued this week with two heated games against the Mercury, which the Fever split. There were five technicals and an ejection in the first, and Caitlin Clark left the second with a back injury after being on the receiving end of what Stephanie White called two "cheap shots" - the latter of which led to a retroactive Flagrant 2 on Alyssa Thomas. Clark, who subsequently missed the Fever's big win over the Sparks, is out indefinitely. 2 7 
Wings After outlasting the Storm in overtime, the Wings fell to the Aces and Lynx to lose back-to-back games for just the second time this season. Arike Ogunbowale made just one shot in each of their three games this week, and averaged 4.3 points on 3 of 24 shooting (12.5%). She has now scored five or fewer points six times this season; she had four such outings in her first seven seasons combined. 2 8 
Mystics There have been two quadruple-overtime games in WNBA history. Remarkably, the Mystics have won both. The first came 25 years ago on July 3, 2001, when they beat the Storm, 72-69. The second came Sunday, when they beat the Fire, 124-123. Sonia Citron (32 points), who played 53 minutes - the sixth-most ever - and Michaela Onyenwere (30) both recorded career-highs and were the first pair of Mystics teammates to score 30 points in a game. 2 9 
Mercury What a chaotic week for the Mercury. Alyssa Thomas was suspended for one game after retroactively being assessed a Flagrant 2 for what the league called "recklessly making contact with her fist to the throat area" of Caitlin Clark, Monique Akoa Makani (hamstring) and Natasha Mack (foot) went down with injuries and Jovana Nogic decided to leave the team for personal reasons. And yet, Phoenix won back-to-back games for just the second time this season and has now won three of four. 3 10 
Tempo Marina Mabrey tied the WNBA's single-game scoring record with 53 points and the single-game 3-point record with nine (for the second time this season) in a stunning performance against the Sparks to continue the best season of her career. She's now averaging 21.2 points, which is good for fourth in the league, and is second only to A'ja Wilson for 30-point games this season (three). She sat out of the Tempo's loss to the Mercury, however, continuing their season-long struggle with injuries. -- 11 
Storm The Storm fell in overtime to the Wings to run their losing streak to a franchise-worst 11 games, but then snapped it in style with back-to-back wins over the Liberty and Dream - two title contenders - which prevented a winless June. Their young core was firing on all cylinders. Dominique Malonga, Awa Fam and Flau'jae Johnson averaged a combined 62 points, 24 rebounds, seven assists, 3.5 steals and 3.5 blocks on 64.1% shooting over those two wins. 4 12 
Sun The Sun snapped their seven-game losing streak by beating the Sky and Mystics for their first back-to-back wins of the season, and just their second winning streak since 2024. They held the Sky to 63 points on 23% shooting and the Mystics to 57 points - the second-lowest scoring game by any team this season - on 35% shooting. Prior to Leïla Lacan's arrival, the Sun had had a 110.2 defensive rating, which ranked 13th. With Lacan, they have a 105 defensive rating, which ranks fifth. 1 13 
Sky The Sky's offense has come alive. Their back-to-back wins over the Fire snapped a six-game losing streak, and in the second of those games they scored 124 points, the second-most points any team has scored in a game in WNBA history, and set the single-game record for assists (38), Kamilla Cardoso also set the single-game record for field goals without a miss (13). The Sky have an absurd 130.6 offensive rating over their last three games; prior to that, their offensive rating for the season was 99.5. 1 14 
Sparks Any hope that the Sparks' emotional buzzer-beating win over the Liberty last Sunday could be a turning point were quickly dashed when Kelsey Plum was ruled out for at least four weeks with a leg injury. Los Angeles promptly lost by 28 to the Tempo and 24 to the Fever, and are now 7-5 with Plum and 1-5 without her. The Sparks now have a league-worst 114.5 defensive rating, which would be the worst in league history. 5 15 
Fire The Fire's mid-season slide continued with three more defeats this week, including two blowouts against the Sky and a quadruple-overtime heartbreaker in Washington D.C. They are now 2-8 since their 6-4 start, with six of those defeats coming by double digits. Amid all the losing, Carla Leite has continued her breakout campaign. After a career-high 32 points on Sunday, she's up to 15.1 points and 5.7 assists per game - both more than double her rookie season numbers. 4 Add CBS Sports on Google Join the Conversation comments 
