By Christan Braswell, edited by Charles Hamaker

Seattle, WA - Help is on the way for the Seattle Storm as the final push to the postseason presents itself.

Free agent forward Gabby Williams has signed with the Storm, the team announced Tuesday afternoon.

Williams played for the Storm in 2022 and part of the 2023 season, but chose to stay with her French national team ahead of the Olympics. She was able to sign with a team because of her UFA status. She will join the team for practice on Friday and will be in uniform on Monday, Aug. 26th, a source confirms to Circling Seattle Sports.

The 5’11 forward returns to the WNBA after a phenomenal run with Team France at the 2024 in Paris Olympics where she won a silver medal, averaging 15.5 points, 4.7 rebounds, 4.8 assists, and 2.8 steals across six games. She tallied 19 points in the Gold Medal game against Team USA, including a heroic five-point spread in the final five seconds where she nearly unseated the best team in the world.

Seattle Storm forward Gabby Williams during the 2022 season, the first of now three stints with the team. (Photos by Neil Enns/Seattle Storm)

Winning with Williams

With Williams’ talents in tow, Quinn has a slew of good problems to pick from.

Second year forward Jordan Horston was a breath of fresh air for the starting five. She added a level of versatility and spatial awareness that fit the team’s stars like a glove. The thing is that Williams brings the same qualities. While it might be unreasonable to expect Quinn to shift her starting lineup this late in the season, how minutes are distributed next week will be interesting.

Williams returns to a Storm team in need of her services. Currently, Seattle ranks ninth in bench scoring (15 PPG). Since forward Jordan Horston was promoted to the starting lineup full-time on June 23rd, the team has lacked a consistent scoring punch when the starters come out for a breather. Quinn has done a terrific job with how she staggers her lineups, but it is noticeable. Williams’ arrival irons out several small wrinkles in the team’s approach.

With the ability to guard 1-through-4, Williams brings ample versatility and hustle to a team full to the brim of both. Opposing ballhandlers seeing Seattle on the schedule knowing a wing duo of Williams and Horston with Diggins-Smith and Loyd waiting to pounce will do wonders for the transition game. Not to forget world class post defenders in Ogwumike and the Defensive Player of the Year candidate in Magbegor who can both step out to the perimeter and defend the shiftiest of guards.

The former UConn product is a proven ballhandler who can run an offense and find her own shot consistently — a skillset Seattle has sorely missed this season off the bench. Williams’ arrival takes an enormous load off the shoulders of guards Skylar Diggins-Smith and Jewell Loyd and gives Quinn options with her rotations.

As a driver, Williams will help create fresh looks on catch-and-shoot situations from deep and freeing up the midrange for Diggins-Smith and Loyd who thrive there.

True Contenders?

With 14 games remaining in the regular season, the Storm find themselves in a peculiar position.

By signing All-Stars Nneka Ogwumike and Diggins-Smith in the offseason, the team signaled to the league that there was no need for a rebuild with franchise cornerstones in Loyd, Horston, and forward Ezi Magbegor under contract.

On paper, Seattle boasted one of the most experienced rosters in the WNBA. Despite the vast knowledge shared, it was no secret that time spent — on and off the court — and an abundance of live reps were needed to forge the connections required to fit the mold of a legit championship contender. From the players to the coaching staff, this is a shared belief.

Still, in moments that matters most, Seattle has not looked the part against teams they share the conversation with. To date, they have a 3-6 record against the New York Liberty, Las Vegas Aces, and Connecticut Sun.

Signing Williams instantly shifted the field and gives Seattle the legitimacy needed. In most of the games they have played against contenders, what the team lacked in crunch time is supplemented by Williams and puts them over the top. A newly assembled group that places sixth in offensive rating (101.8) paired with fourth-best defensive rating (94.8) gives them the fourth-highest net rating (+7) in the WNBA. Adding a player with Williams’ abilities will push Seattle right where they aimed to be at the start of the season.

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