Matt Calkins: Why the Jewell Loyd trade will make the Storm better

Matt Calkins, The Seattle Times on Jan 29, 2025

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SEATTLE — There probably isn't going to be a statue or a street sign. Her name isn't going to ring out in Seattle the way Sue Bird's does.

She was never the focal point of a championship team or in the WNBA MVP conversation, but for a stretch here in the Emerald City — Jewell Loyd was damn good.

It's quite likely the Storm fail to win a championship in 2018 and 2020 sans Loyd, who averaged 15.5 points in each of those seasons while shooting at least 37% from deep. And Loyd, a six-time All-Star, made first-team All-WNBA in 2021 when she posted 17.9 points per game.

This is a player who led the league in scoring in 2023 and won the All-Star MVP that season. She was the first overall pick in the 2015 WNBA draft and seemed to have lived up to that billing.

It was also time for her to go. The Storm are about to get better.

My guess is supporters of this team feel a similar sense of appreciation for Loyd's past contributions while looking forward to the possibilities her departure will bring. The 10-year veteran, after all, was dealt to Las Vegas on Sunday as part of a three-team trade that included former Husky great Kelsey Plum going to the Los Angeles Sparks.

Perhaps in an ideal world the Storm would have simply swapped a disgruntled Loyd for Plum, who has established herself as one of the best players in the league. Instead, Seattle received the No. 2 overall pick in this year's draft, which could land them UConn star Paige Bueckers.

But isn't Bueckers going No. 1 on every mock draft board?

Yes, she is. But as ESPN's Kevin Pelton pointed out Sunday, the Storm jumping from ninth to second on the draft board puts them in a position to trade up and grab the former Wooden Award winner.

His reasoning? That Bueckers may say she'd rather return to college for a sixth year of eligibility than play for the Dallas Wings, who have the top pick.

Bueckers isn't Caitlin Clark, a generational talent who popularized women's hoops in a way this country has never seen. But she is someone who could instantly transform the Storm into a championship contender while revving up the fan base with her A-list status.

We're getting ahead of ourselves here, though. First ... a look at Loyd.

As mentioned earlier, the 31-year-old has put together a career that might land her in the Hall of Fame one day. This past year with the Storm, however, has been plagued by tumult on and off the court.

Between the lines she deteriorated into one of the league's least efficient scorers, shooting .360 from the field and .274 from deep on 16.8 attempts per game. It made sense for her to hoist the number of shots she did one year earlier, after Bird retired and Breanna Stewart joined the New York Liberty.

Loyd leading the league in scoring seemed necessary considering she was Seattle's sole scoring option. But for her to chuck the way she did after All-Stars Nneka Ogwumike and Skylar Diggins-Smith joined the team? It made little sense, and was part of the reason the "super team" Storm finished fifth in the 12-team standings before losing in the first round of the playoffs.

Then came the bullying and harassment allegations Loyd launched against the Storm. An investigation conducted by an independent law firm hired by the Storm found no wrongdoing, according to the team. But it resulted in Loyd requesting a trade. Well, now she got it. And Seattle is likely going to be a lot better off for it.

The Storm are expected to bring back Ogwumike to join Diggins-Smith and Ezi Magbegor — three members of last year's "core four." And regardless of what Bueckers and/or the Wings want to do, that No. 2 pick is a powerful asset. Maybe they trade it to add complementary pieces to the aforementioned trio. Or maybe they draft Notre Dame point guard Olivia Miles and set themselves up for the future.

There is an array of possibilities, with Bueckers wearing yellow and green being the most intriguing. They are likely moving closer to championship contention regardless.

Unfortunately, it's common for once-treasured players to have fallouts with their former teams. It usually occurs when said players are loath to believe that their prime years are behind them.

Hopefully there is a cheerful reunion between Loyd and the Storm somewhere down the line. But for now, moving on from her will move this team closer to the top.

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