Seattle Storm

Founded in 2000, Seattle Storm has gone from strength to strength to become one of the most successful franchises. The Seattle Storm plays in the Western Conference of the WNBA and since its foundation has won the most championships.

The Seattle Storm is tied with the Minnesota Lynx and Houston Comets for the most titles in WNBA history. The Storm is also one of two franchises to have never lost the WNBA Finals, the other being Houston Comets.

Along their journey through different eras, Seattle Storm has been home to some of the greatest women basketball players in Sue Bird, Lauren Jackson, Breanna Stewart and Jewell Loyd. As of June 2024, only 14 players in the WNBA have scored more than 6000 points and two of them have played their entire career in the city of Seattle.

Seattle Storm History

The franchise has been a consistent playoff team throughout its history, making 18 playoff appearances, second only to the Los Angeles Sparks (21). They clinched their first title in 2004 by sweeping the Connecticut Sun 3-0.

Following their inaugural WNBA championship, Seattle struggled to advance beyond the Western Conference semifinals for five consecutive years. However, in 2010, Seattle reached the WNBA Finals after defeating their archrivals, the Los Angeles Sparks and Phoenix Mercury. They proceeded to sweep the Atlanta Dream 3-0 to secure another WNBA title undefeated.

In the 2016 WNBA Draft, the Seattle Storm selected Breanna Stewart as the first overall pick. Stewart played a pivotal role in capturing two championships for Seattle. With Stewart and Jewell Loyd leading the charge, along with veteran Sue Bird's seasoned leadership, the franchise claimed the WNBA championships in 2018 and 2020.

Seattle Storm Owner

The Seattle Storm’s majority owner is Force 10 Hoops LLC, consisting of three friends in Lisa Brummel, Dawn Trudeau and Ginny Gilder. They bought the franchise in 2008 for $10 million from the previous owners of Seattle Supersonics who were moving to Oklahoma City. In 2024, the Seattle Storm is worth over $150 million, according to Fortune. The trio divides their duties as Trudeau oversees its social responsibility initiatives, Gilder liaises with the WNBA’s board of governors and Brummel with her experience in human relations oversees partnership with the team’s executive leadership.

The trio added Sue Bird to the Seattle Storm ownership group in April 2024.

Seattle Storm Retired Jersey

Seattle Storm Jersey and Logo

The team adopted the logo in 2021 and comes with background colors of dark green, yellow and light green. The primary logo retained the Seattle Space Needle as the main focus but was redesigned with a light green lightning bolt below it, behind the tower is a yellow basketball and the team name is arched below in white. The entire logo is placed on a green and light green shield. The Storm’s jersey colors are nabbed from their Seattle-based NBA franchise, Seattle Supersonics, the green and yellow jerseys.

Seattle Storm Home Stadium

Seattle Storm plays their home games at the Climate Pledge Arena which has an estimated seating capacity of 18,343. The Climate Pledge Arena is in the Seattle Center, the arts, educational, tourism, and entertainment center in town. The stadium caters to multiple sports across different leagues like the NHL and WNBA basketball.

Seattle Storm Tickets and Broadcasting Details

Seattle Storm’s games are live broadcasted on multiple platforms for viewers from different locations. Local viewers can tune in to KCPQ FOX 13 and KZJO FOX 13+ and FOX 13 which will broadcast 30 regular season games in partnership with Prime Video. The Storms are part of 10 nationally televised games which include three games on ABC/ESPN and seven games on ION TV. Users can also buy WNBA passes which start at $12.99 monthly or $34.99 annually for Chicago Sky’s games.

Seattle Storm has seen a rise in average home attendance from 8923 in 2023 to 10406 in 2024. The dynamic pricing of tickets fluctuates from game to game and can start from an estimated $25 to $30 and court-side tickets at $250 to $350.

Seattle Storm Coaching Staff

Former WNBA player, Noelle Quinn is the current head coach of the Seattle Storm. She started coaching in 2019 as an assistant coach with the Storm and became an associate head coach after just one season. In her one-year tenure as an associate head coach, Quinn was promoted to head coach in the middle of the season in 2021. In her first full season as Storm’s head coach in 2022, Quinn made some additions to the coaching staff. The arrivals included Pokey Chatman, former head coach of Chicago Sky and Indiana Fever and Ebony Hoffman, former WNBA player.

Seattle Storm Famous Players

Sue Bird

One of the longest-serving players of the game and an inspiration on and off the court, Sue Bird had a Hall-of-Famer career. Despite not winning any individual accolades, Bird is considered one of the greatest WNBA players. She won four WNBA championships, in 2004, 2010, 2018 and 2020 and was a 13-time All-Star. Her leadership and playmaking were the cornerstones of her game and led the Storm through three decades of WNBA. She leads the WNBA in assists made by at least 450 more assists and minutes played by at least 1000 minutes played.

Her longevity combined with her four championships and playing for only one team throughout her career leaves shades of both Steph Curry and LeBron James in her career.

Lauren Jackson

Lauren Jackson was drafted as the first overall pick in the 2001 WNBA Draft by the Seattle Storm. She played 12 seasons and 348 games for the Seattle Storm, spending her entire career with the team. The Aussie played a vital role in establishing the franchise on the basketball map and led them to two titles, winning Finals MVP in 2010.

She also won three WNBA MVPs, in 2003, 2007 and 2010. Only one of six WNBA players to win regular season MVP and Finals MVP in the same season. After her career, Jackson was inducted into the Australian Basketball Hall of Fame in 2019, the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in 2020 and the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2021.

Breanna Stewart

Breanna Stewart was drafted as the first overall pick in the 2016 WNBA Draft by the Seattle Storm. In her rookie season, Stewart was one of the best defenders in the league and showed immense potential for the Storm’s future, winning the Rookie of the Year. Only 23 years old and in her third season in 2018, Steward became WNBA MVP becoming one of two players to win WNBA MVP for the franchise. She also led the Storm to the WNBA Finals and was awarded Finals MVP for her two-way performance. The 2018 season by Stewart was one of the most dominant performances by a WNBA player. She currently plays for the New York Liberty.

In 2020, Stewart finished as runners-up in the race for regular season MVP. On the other hand, Stewart led the Storm to the WNBA Championship by defeating the Las Vegas Aces and her archrival and regular season MVP, A’ja Wilson.

Seattle Storm Rivalries

Seattle Storm’s fierce rivalry with the Los Angeles Sparks and the Phoenix Mercury expands beyond the regular season. They faced the Sparks in the 2000s playoffs five times and only emerged victorious once, losing four times in seven years. The Spark also won in 2019 defeating the trio of Stewart, Loyd and Bird.

Another rival from the West, Phoenix Mercury led by Diana Taurasi was one of the hardest opponents for Sue Bird’s Seattle Storm. They dominated the Storms by ending their championship hopes four times in the playoffs while Seattle trumped them twice on their way to the WNBA title.

Seattle Storm WNBA Records and Stats

The Storm have made the playoffs 18 times since 2000 and have won four WNBA championships. They have been a consistent playoff team, winning titles in multiple decades as they won in 2004, 2010, 2018 and 2020. Their first playoff appearance came in 2002 and their latest playoff appearance came in 2022.