How Flau'jae Johnson flourished as a WNBA rookie despite Storm's historic losing season — SkimNews
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- Flau'jae Johnson averaged 14.9 points, 4.8 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 1.4 steals per game, breaking Breanna Stewart's franchise rookie record with 626 points and setting Storm rookie marks for 3-pointers (60) and steals (57).
- The Seattle Storm finished 8-36, setting the WNBA's single-season losses record with a franchise-worst .182 winning percentage.
- Johnson lost more games in five months with the Storm than she did across four years at LSU, where she went 125-20 and won a national title as a freshman.
- The Storm went 2-16 in clutch games with 13 losses by five or fewer points; their 16 clutch defeats since 2006 are tied for the third-most in a single WNBA season, per league data going back to 2006.
- Johnson, the No. 8 overall pick, was traded from the Golden State Valkyries — now a primary title contender in second place — to Seattle on draft night, and called the move 'the best thing that happened to me.'
- The Storm's core is remarkably young: Johnson at 22 is already the oldest, joined by All-Star center Dominique Malonga and No. 3 pick Awa Fam, both 20.
Why it matters: Seattle finished with the worst record in franchise history, but Johnson's rookie records and All-Rookie-caliber play give the Storm a proven building block atop the league's youngest core — she's just 22, already the oldest alongside 20-year-olds Malonga and Fam.
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