Dominique Malonga is making history in Seattle but the Storm keep losing anyway

On Wednesday night at Barclays Center, Dominique Malonga scored 31 points on 14-of-20 shooting, pulled down 10 rebounds, and became the youngest player in WNBA history to score 30 points while shooting 70% or better from the field in a single game. Seattle lost 92-86 anyway, completing a two-game sweep at the hands of the New York Liberty and extending the Storm’s losing streak to 10 straight games — their second such streak of the season.

That tension is the story of Seattle’s 2025-2026 season in miniature.

A sophomore leap that demands attention

The numbers Malonga is putting up in her second WNBA season are not a matter of opinion. The No. 2 pick in the 2025 draft — now in her first full season as a starter and a first-time All-Star — is averaging 16.9 points, 8.7 rebounds, 1.3 blocks and 50.2% shooting across 24 games, logging 26.1 minutes per night. Compare that to her first season: 8.0 points, 5.0 rebounds, 0.7 blocks in 15.0 minutes per game. She has essentially doubled her production across every major category while improving her efficiency, a leap that is rare at 20 years old against WNBA-level competition.

Wednesday’s performance underscored the ceiling. Matched up against two former MVPs in Breanna Stewart (28 points, 8 rebounds) and Jonquel Jones (14 points, 15 rebounds, 7 assists), Malonga was not a passenger. She scored 15 points in the second quarter alone — hitting 3-pointers and a fadeaway — to cut a 27-16 first-quarter deficit to 47-43 at the half. She kept Seattle within striking distance until Sabrina Ionescu and Jones pulled the game away in the third and fourth quarters. With 50.4 seconds left and the Storm trailing 88-82, she scored again. It was not enough.

What a historic season on a 6-27 team actually means

The uncomfortable reality is that context shapes perception. Malonga is producing at a level that would generate significant national conversation on a competitive team. On a franchise with the worst record in the WNBA, those numbers risk being filed under « impressive but… » — a qualifier that follows players on losing teams regardless of what they actually do.

There is also a developmental argument worth making in both directions. Heavy minutes on a bad team can accelerate growth: Malonga is seeing every defensive scheme imaginable, playing through adversity every night, and accumulating experience at an age when most players at her position are still finding their footing. Nine double-doubles in a single season, a second career 30-point game, a historic shooting efficiency mark — these are not empty-schedule numbers.

But losing 10 games in a row — twice — is corrosive. It tests organizational cohesion, player confidence, and the long-term willingness of a young cornerstone to stay invested in a rebuild that has no visible floor yet. Seattle’s last win came nearly a month before Wednesday’s game. The Storm have not shown the ability to build on Malonga’s best performances; they have simply absorbed them.

For the franchise, the question is no longer whether Malonga can be a franchise player. She is already performing like one. The question is whether the Storm can build something around her fast enough to make that matter — before the gap between what she is and what this team is becomes a problem that cannot be solved internally.