Dominique Malonga’s Historic Game vs Wings Showcases Storm’s Bright Future
Wins have been hard to come by for the Seattle Storm this season. They just suffered their eleventh straight loss when the Dallas Wings beat them 112-110 in overtime. But it’s not as bad as it sounds. Dominique Malonga and Awa Fam are only 20 years old, and a losing season will bring another lottery pick to Seattle. The team is right where it should be after losing all of its veteran stars in free agency and starting a rebuild.
The game against Dallas was a very encouraging outing. Despite the demoralizing losing streak, the Storm battled, locked in on defense, and gave the Wings everything they could handle. They also impressed Wings head coach Jose Fernandez.
“Give a lot of credit to Sonia [Raman] and her team,” Fernandez said in the postgame media availability, per a video on the Wings’ YouTube channel. “They’ve been struggling, but I tell you, they were really, really good. I thought they were connected. They played hard. Seattle played with a lot of energy, with a lot of enthusiasm.”
The biggest bright spot in the game was the Storm’s young frontcourt, especially Dominique Malonga. She recorded 37 points on 14-24 shooting from the field and 2-5 shooting from three, 12 rebounds, 1 assist, and 2 blocks. With that performance, she wrote her name in the WNBA record books twice. She is not only the youngest player in league history to score 30 points, but also the youngest player with a 30-point, 10-rebound game.
Dominique Malonga is the youngest 30-point scorer in WNBA history (regular season or playoffs), and she is the first to do so under the age of 21.
— Seattle Storm PR (@SeattleStormPR) June 23, 2026
37 POINTS MAKES IT A NEW CAREER-HIGH FOR DOM 💪
— espnW (@espnW) June 23, 2026
20-year-old Dominique Malonga is now the youngest player in WNBA history with a 30-point, 10-rebound game 🔥 pic.twitter.com/U8JjGbhK8e
Malonga is from France, so she is in a very different position than American-born WNBA players. She has been playing professionally since 2021 and was able to enter the draft as a teenager. So, she was bound to become the youngest player to do many things in the W, but that doesn’t make her ability to score almost 40 points in a league filled with the best players in the world, as one of the youngest players on the court, any less impressive.
The Storm may be struggling right now, but the team has a bright future ahead with Malonga at the center of the rebuild.
Malonga’s ceiling is incredibly high
Paige Bueckers was too good to pass on for the Wings with the number-one pick, but there were always speculations that Malonga would end up being the best player out of the draft class. In the annual GM survey, 60% of GMs picked her when asked which rookie would be the best player in five years. Bueckers received the other 40% of the votes.
With her size, athleticism, versatility, and still-evolving skill, Malonga already looks like a future MVP and a player who will usher in a new era of success in Seattle.
Malonga is only in her second WNBA season, but has already made massive strides. With Ezi Magbegor injured and Nneka Ogwumike choosing to return to Los Angeles in free agency, Malonga stepped into a gaping hole left in the frontcourt.
She missed some time with a concussion, but has been impressive when available, averaging 17.3 points—a ten-point increase from last year—7 rebounds, 1.1 assists, and 1.2 blocks. Most impressively, perhaps, she is shooting 38.9% from three. While it’s on a low volume, having a 6’6” player who can dunk AND space the floor is huge for the Storm.
Malonga isn’t the only young Storm player to be excited about
Malonga may have stolen the headlines with her 37-point double-double, but she’s not the only fascinating young talent on the Storm’s roster.
Awa Fam just turned 20 and has only played 12 WNBA games, but already showed flashes of her insanely high ceiling. She has great footwork around the basket, incredible vision for a big, and is currently shooting 37.8% on 3.1 3-pointers per game. Just like Malonga, Fam, who was drafted third overall this year, was chosen as the rookie who would be the best player in five years in the GM survey. She and Malonga still need to build chemistry, but they could be the scariest frontcourt in the WNBA very soon. They combined for 55 of the Storm’s 110 points against the Wings.
After drafting Fam, the Storm also acquired Flau’jae Johnson from the Golden State Valkyries. Johnson is struggling to make shots efficiently, shooting just 34% from the field for the season, but her athleticism and energy still make her a fascinating fit next to Malonga and Fam. The shooting inefficiency will hopefully come along as she gets more comfortable in the W, and her defense has already been impressive. She is one of just two guards to average at least one block per game. Azzi Fudd is the other one.
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Elaine Blum covers women’s basketball for On SI from Europe. She has been writing about women's hoops since 2023 and holds a Bachelor’s degree in English and Journalism and a master’s degree in American Studies with a focus on women’s and gender studies. She started playing basketball when she was 10 years old and won several league and state championships at the youth and senior level.