Injured Storm G Nika Mühl Selected By Portland Fire in WNBA Expansion Draft
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Seattle Storm guard Nika Muhl (left) and guard Sami Whitcomb (32) walk off the court after the game against the Seattle Storm at Crypto.com Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images [/caption]
Guard Nika Mühl, who tore her ACL in early March for the second straight year and had surgery on March 31, was the only Seattle Storm player selected in the 2026 WNBA Expansion Draft. The Portland Fire selected Mühl with their last pick in the draft.
The Storm knew early enough that Mühl was going to miss the entire 2026 season, which is clearly why they didn’t protect her in the draft. There’s a chance she would’ve remained unprotected even if she were healthy after playing in just 16 games since being drafted in 2024.
That doesn’t negate the fact that Mühl was a fan-favorite in Seattle, even if she was hardly on the court. When she made the initial roster before the 2024 season, hopes were high that she could become a staple of the Storm franchise as a tenacious defender and dynamic playmaker.
Instead, Mühl heads to Portland to be part of a brand new organization. Even if she won’t be on the court and playing against the Storm, Mühl will return to Seattle quickly when the Fire come to town for a preseason game on Wednesday, April 29.
The first regular-season meeting between the two teams will be on Wednesday, June 17, in Portland.
Mühl concludes her two-year stint with the Storm after playing 57 total minutes and totaling two points, 10 rebounds, seven assists and two steals in her 16 appearances. It’ll forever be one of the biggest “What if?” stories for the Storm.
Nika Mühl has been selected by the Portland Fire in the 2026 WNBA Expansion Draft.
Thank you, Nika. 💚 pic.twitter.com/hVioFxOrNH— Seattle Storm (@seattlestorm) April 3, 2026
Who did the Storm protect, and what’s next?
We don’t learn who the teams explicitly protected. And because Mühl was the only Storm player selected, it creates more questions than answers.
Center Ezi Magbegor and guard Brittney Sykes were the surprising non-selections, as there was almost no room for the Storm to protect them. Seattle could only protect five players, and three of those were locks in Dominique Malonga, Jordan Horston and Gabby Williams.
It’s possible the Storm opted not to protect veterans Skylar Diggins and Nneka Ogwumike since they were not eligible for the core player designation and are both 35 years old, and thus less attractive to the expansion teams.
Magbegor and Sykes are also unrestricted free agents, but are eligible to be tagged with the core player designation. The Tempo and Fire could only select one player each who is set to become a free agent, so it’s entirely possible they still were unprotected and just not picked. Toronto used its UFA pick on former Connecticut Sun guard Marina Mabrey, and Portland picked former Minnesota Lynx forward Bridget Carleton.
A draft that could’ve provided answers on what direction the Storm were going only brought more uncertainty, as there’s almost zero chance Seattle can re-sign all of their veterans — even with a vastly increased salary cap.
The benefit, though, is that the Storm still have plenty of flexibility when free agency starts if they are planning to bring back most of their 2025 stars. They all remain available to negotiate.
Mühl was a player who was going to repeatedly be stashed for the future until proving she could stay healthy, so she wasn’t going to be part of the 2026 plan. All the players who could be part of that plan remain on the table at this point in the offseason.
WNBA teams now turn their attention to free agency and the WNBA Draft. The league still has not released a timeline for free agency, but it’s projected to run from April 7-18 before training camp begins on Sunday, April 19.
The WNBA Draft is in the middle of all that on Monday, April 13, ahead of a regular season start on Friday, May 8.
