Seattle Storm's Awa Fam, Dominique Malonga see first action together during loss

The future appears to be bright for the Storm with 20-year-old Dominique Malonga and 19-year-old Awa Fam, who shared the court for the first time - albeit briefly - Saturday to comprise the youngest frontcourt pairing in WNBA history.

Still, the Storm's 88-68 defeat against the host Minnesota Lynx - their fifth consecutive setback - had many wondering what might have been.

What if Olivia Miles, the Lynx's newest star and presumptive Rookie of the Year favorite, didn't return to college last year and stayed in the WNBA draft when she was projected as the No. 2 overall choice for Seattle?

And what if Miles, who was selected with the second overall pick in the 2026 draft, had fallen to the Storm at No. 3 as many expected?

Of course, Seattle selected Malonga and Fam with their top choices in the past two drafts and in their first game together they combined for 12 points, six rebounds and four assists.

"We wanted to get to that pairing," Seattle coach Sonia Raman said. "There's so much that we can build on. It was such a minimal amount of minutes (Saturday). It was just about making it happen and getting it going and getting this started with the two of them on the floor together."

Malonga, who missed the previous eight games due to a concussion, had seven points, two rebounds and two steals in 14 minutes off the bench, and Fam finished with five points, four rebounds and four assists in 30 minutes.

"Saw some really good things there, but those two have to learn how to play together," Raman said. "They've never played together before. This was the very first time, and … we can start to see a little bit of the potential of what that could look like."

Meanwhile, the future is now for Miles, who put on a show for the sellout crowd of 10,801 at Target Center and finished with 19 points, six rebounds and six assists.

"She's had a great start (to her career)," Storm guard Natisha Hiedeman said. "She's a great player. She just seems like she's been here for a while. She doesn't really seem like a rookie."

Former Storm standout Natasha Howard scored a season-high 27 points while Courtney Williams and Kayla McBride each added 11 for the Lynx, who have the league's best record at 9-2 and won their seventh consecutive game.

Seattle kept things close early with a resurgent perimeter attack.

The Storm connected on their first four three-point attempts and made six of 11 from long range in the first quarter to lead 21-9 in the opening minutes.

With 5:08 remaining in the second quarter, Malonga checked in while Fam was on the court. Their initial pairing didn't last long - just 17 seconds before Fam subbed out - but the Storm had them in the same lineup for a few minutes in the second half.

"It feels really good, especially on defense, having the twin towers behind you," Hiedeman said. "To have Dom back and just get her back in the rhythm, she's a key piece of our team along with Awa. So, just to have the both of them makes our team more flexible and able to do more things. I love playing with both of them."

In her first game at Minnesota since leaving in the offseason via free agency, former Lynx fan favorite Hiedeman received a warm ovation during player introductions. She had her best moments in the second quarter while scoring nine of her team-high tying 14 points.

At the same time, the game began to slip away from the Storm, who were outscored 29-19 in the period and trailed 45-43 at halftime.

In the third quarter, the Lynx converted 11 of 20 field goal attempts while the Storm were three of 14 and outscored 26-10 to fall behind 71-52.

"We can't give up 29-point quarters," Raman said. "We have to be better in that department. There were seven offensive rebounds for the Lynx in that quarter. … The 10-point third quarter, for sure that's something that we'll go back and look at and evaluate."

Hiedeman couldn't explain why the Storm lost control.

"I don't really know, honestly," she said. "They came out of halftime just with their foot on the gas."

Jade Melbourne scored 14 points and Flau'jae Johnson added 10 for the Storm, who fell to 3-9 and 0-3 in the Commissioner's Cup race.

Seattle, which committed a season-high 23 turnovers, shot 34.9% from the field, including 11 of 36 on three-point attempts, and converted 13 of 16 free-throw attempts.

During their losing streak, the Storm are averaging 65.6 points, which is a troubling trend considering they finish their two-game road trip Monday against the Las Vegas Aces, who are third in the league in scoring at 89.7 points per game.

"It's get out in transition and try to get some easy ones," Raman said when asked about the Storm's offense. "It's get to the line. It's generate more catch and shoot threes.

"We did so and that's something that's great to see transfer from practice and from shoot-arounds into live play. It's just continue to take those open looks and shoot those with confidence and play with force so we can continue to try to get to the line as well."

Note

- Veteran guard Lexie Brown did not travel with the Storm to Minnesota for undisclosed reasons.

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This story was originally published June 6, 2026 at 5:03 PM.