Storm Announce Pair of 2026 Preseason Games
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The Seattle Storm will have two preseason games prior to the 2026 season, with one coming against the expansion-franchise Portland Fire. Credit: John Mac [/caption]
The fate of the 2026 WNBA season remains up in the air, but the Seattle Storm announced their pair of preseason games that begin on Saturday, April 25.
Seattle will travel to the Golden State Valkyries for a 5:30 PM game that Saturday before coming back home to host the Portland Fire at 7 PM on Wednesday, April 29. That will be the Fire’s first-ever WNBA game.
The Storm’s first regular-season game against the Fire won’t be until Wednesday, June 17, when the Portland-Seattle basketball rivalry will begin a new saga.
There isn’t much to go on, matchup-wise, as the Fire don’t even have a roster yet, despite being just over two months from their first game. That part feels rather strange, and it’s a product of slow-going on a new CBA between the WNBA and WNBPA.
The Valkyries had their expansion draft before the 2025 season in December, giving them much more time to prepare for the upcoming season. As it currently stands, the Fire and Toronto Tempo won’t have nearly as much time to create a plan for their roster as the Valkyries did.
Luckily for the two expansion teams, the majority of the league is entering free agency. Thus, most of the other 13 teams will be nearly as scrambled as those franchises as they try and get their training camp rosters together.
Seattle had just one preseason game ahead of last season, defeating the Connecticut Sun 79-59 at home.
It ended up not being indicative of who would be regular-season contributors, as Li Yueru (15 points, 10 rebounds in preseason) was traded not long into the season, and Mackenzie Holmes (nine points, eight rebounds, three blocks) was cut before the season, then brought back later. Zia Cooke (eight points) also had a minimal role.
No. 2 overall pick Dominique Malonga didn’t even play in the game, nor did Gabby Williams or Ezi Magbegor. Nneka Ogwumike did score a team-high 18 points — a small window into the dominant season the veteran would have.
The Storm should get their first in-game glimpse of the No. 3 overall pick in the preseason if they are healthy enough to play.
If the league and the players' union can iron things out with the CBA, WNBA basketball isn’t that far away. But if they can’t, we could see one of the longest breaks between seasons in league history.
