Seattle Storm 2025 Season Grades: Mackenzie Holmes
The 2025 WNBA season is over. With a pending agreement on what will be a transformative collective bargaining agreement between the players and league, this offseason will bring sweeping change prior to the 2026 campaign.
But before all that, there’s still plenty to recap on last season.
The Seattle Storm finished the regular season with a 23-21 record and lost to the would-be WNBA champion Las Vegas Aces in the first round of the playoffs. Seattle has just four players under contract for next season, including rookie phenom Dominique Malonga.
With all that in mind, The Emerald City Spectrum will be dishing out grades for each player who stepped on the court for the Storm in 2025 on offense, defense and overall value.
Even though she saw very little playing time in her first WNBA season, rookie post Mackenzie Holmes showed she should have a long-term place in the league.
Road to 2025 season
Holmes was a 2024 third-round pick, but she spent the season away from the team as she worked to return from knee surgery. She signed her rookie contract with the team in February, but was waived by the Storm as part of post-training camp roster cuts.
Seattle re-signed Holmes on June 16, two days after trading center Li Yueru to the Dallas Wings. The Storm needed post depth, and Holmes was expected to provide that. She was with the team the remainder of the season.
Offense
Considering Holmes played in only 10 games and had a season-high of just 12 minutes, there isn’t a huge sample size to work off of. But she was efficient in her little time on the court.
Holmes was 5 for 6 from the field on the season, totaling 10 points. She also had two total assists. Even though she played primarily in blowout wins or losses, Holmes didn’t force anything, was a solid piece off the bench and didn’t commit a single turnover.
If the Storm’s lone preseason was any indication, Holmes could be a productive offensive player if given the chance. In 21 minutes, Holmes totaled nine points on 4 of 5 shooting in Seattle’s preseason win over the Connecticut Sun back in May.
Grade: C+
Reasoning: Holmes can’t be knocked for her lack of time on the court. Her lack of production was more a product of former head coach Noelle Quinn running a tight rotation and Holmes not getting many opportunities to impact the game outside of blowouts.
When she did play, the efficiency was the main thing that stood out. That’s what gets her a decent grade here.
Defense
Again, Holmes’ lack of production has to be weighed against the fact that she played a total of 59 minutes the entire season.
On a per-36-minute basis, Holmes would average 5.6 rebounds, 3.1 steals and 0.6 blocks based on her 2025 numbers. That nearly matches the rebounding average (6.2) of starting center Ezi Magbegor this past season in her 27 minutes per game.
At 6-foot-3, Holmes is a good size to guard most of the taller post players in the league. She has the motor to be involved in hustle plays, and that will serve her well as a scrappy post player down the road.
Grade: B
Reasoning: Holmes has all the tools to be a good defender in the WNBA. She gets steals and contests shots well. The rebounding motor is there as well. If she played more consistently, Holmes likely would have posted much better numbers.
Overall value
This is where the lack of playing time does impact Holmes’ grade. Even if it wasn’t her fault, she didn’t add much to the Storm in 2025. The closest game she played in was decided by 10 points, displaying Quinn’s desire only to play her when a win or loss was in hand.
Holmes wasn’t a very valuable player in the grand scheme of the Storm’s season. She was basically injury insurance for a team that relied heavily on Magbegor, Malonga and Nneka Ogwumike in the post.
Grade: D
Reasoning: Holmes is someone the Storm should look to try and bring back for 2026, especially if they go toward a youth movement and rebuild. She is a reserved free agent but likely will hit the open market like most of Seattle’s previous roster.
She could provide a lot more value moving forward, but just wasn’t an impactful piece of the team’s season.
