Seattle Storm 2025 Season Grades: Nneka Ogwumike
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Undoubtedly the Storm’s MVP of the 2025 season, Nneka Ogwumike showed no signs of slowing down in her 14th WNBA season as she led Seattle to the playoffs for the second straight year. Credit: John Mac [/caption]
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.
Undoubtedly the Storm’s MVP of the 2025 season, Nneka Ogwumike showed no signs of slowing down in her 14th WNBA season as she led Seattle to the playoffs for the second straight year.
Road to 2025 season
Ogwumike first arrived in Seattle in 2024 after 12 seasons with the Los Angeles Sparks. She entered the 2025 season as a former WNBA MVP and champion (2016) and nine-time All-Star. Ogwumike is one of the most decorated players in league history as she progresses into the back-end of her long career.
Offense
Throughout her career, Ogwumike has been the definition of offensive consistency in the WNBA. She has never averaged under 51 percent shooting in any single season and has a career field goal percentage of 53.9 percent as a player who can score from anywhere on the court.
The 2025 season was no different. Ogwumike added a 14th season to her streak of campaigns averaging at least 13 points per game (18.3 this season) and scored on 51.9 percent of her attempts.
Whereas Seattle’s other top offensive players, like Skylar Diggins, Erica Wheeler, Gabby Williams and Brittney Sykes went through brutal scoring slumps, Ogwumike rarely had an off night. She scored at least 10 points in 40 of the Storm’s 44 games and had 20 games with at least 20 points.
Ogwumike scored a season-high 37 points against the Sparks, her former team, on Aug. 1 — one point off her career high set in 2016. The Storm still lost by two points. Sometimes it would feel like Ogwumike would have to carry an extremely heavy offensive burden to keep the team competitive.
Grade: A+
Reasoning: There’s almost nowhere you can knock Ogwumike’s game on offense. She distributes the ball (2.3 assists per game), scores at an extremely efficient clip and is an 80 percent free-throw shooter. She also averaged the most 3-pointers made per game (1.5) of her career in 2025. It was a masterful season, without enough offensive support around her.
Defense
In addition to her offense, Ogwumike was a pillar of the Storm’s defense. She frequently protected the perimeter and the interior next to Ezi Magbegor, and Ogwumike was the more effective rebounder on the inside (7.0 rebounds per game).
Ogwumike has historically been an excellent rebounder, and she propped up an otherwise abysmal rebounding roster. The Storm still finished last in the league in rebounds per game (30.9).
The effort of Ogwumike doesn’t always show up in the box score, but her 6-foot-2 frame appears even bigger on the court because of how she plays. She can defend anyone in the league, even if she’s a bit on the small end as an interior defender.
Grade: B+
Reasoning: Most of this grade stems from Ogwumike’s rebounding, which was by far the best on the team. Magbegor averaged just 0.8 fewer rebounds per game, but Ogwumike’s effort in that area was far higher and he often crashed all the way in from the perimeter. That, coupled with her ability to guard anyone, deserves this grade.
Overall value
It’s hard to imagine how far this team would’ve gotten if Ogwumike wasn’t healthy the entire season and playing at the level she was. She kept the Storm competitive even when the team’s other stars were having off nights or consecutive games of lackluster play.
Considering the Storm only snuck into the playoffs this season, there’s good reason to assume they wouldn’t have made the postseason at all if she were absent even a few games during the season.
It’s incredible what Ogwumike can do this late into her career, and she continues climbing the WNBA’s all-time ranks in multiple categories.
A few of her top WNBA career ranks:
Points: 6th (7,305)
20-plus-point games: 6th (147)
Rebounds: 7th (3,268)
Field goals made: 3rd (3,364)
Double-doubles: 6th (115)
Even if she ended her career now, Ogwumike will be a first-ballot Hall of Famer. Since it doesn’t seem like that will be the case, she has a chance to climb even higher in the league record books.
Within the context of the Storm, Ogwumike should be a priority to bring back in 2026, even if the team is trying to stay younger. She’s a veteran leader and has a good relationship with Dominique Malonga. That could continue to be critical to the No. 2 overall pick’s development.
Grade: A+
Reasoning: Ogwumike has nothing left to prove in the WNBA, but she continues to build her career numbers to a point of being one of the league’s most prolific players. The Storm were far better off with her in 2024 and 2025, and they may be better off with her moving forward.
