The Seattle Storm have been busy this week, shaping their roster in anticipation of the 2025 WNBA season. Over the weekend, the Storm re-signed Gabby Williams, and this week they’ve made a couple of key roster strikes akin to including veteran guard Erica Wheeler. The Storm’s newest roster transfer was signing former Los Angeles Sparks guard Zia Cooke to a coaching camp contract, the workforce introduced on Thursday.
Zia Cooke’s contract with the Storm is non-guaranteed and she or he must make the workforce out of coaching camp. It is a acquainted state of affairs for Cooke who basically needed to battle for a roster spot with the Sparks the previous two seasons.
Cooke is presumably searching for a chance to play greater than she did the final two years in Los Angeles. The Sparks selected to chop Cooke on the heels of their blockbuster sign-and-trade to amass All-Star guard Kelsey Plum.
Along with signing Cooke, the Storm additionally added rookie ahead Brianna Fraser. Fraser has not but appeared on a WNBA common season roster, having solely spent coaching camp with the Connecticut Solar in 2021 and the New York Liberty in 2024. She has been enjoying abroad in Turkey.
Following the flurry of signings this week, the Storm roster at present stands at 12. They will deliver a most of 18 gamers to coaching camp, and might want to minimize that quantity all the way down to both 11 or 12 gamers by the beginning of the common season.
Zia Cooke’s new alternative with Storm
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Regardless of being a primary spherical WNBA draft choose, Cooke didn’t get a lot of a chance to play whereas on the Sparks roster. She was the No. 10 total choose within the 2023 WNBA Draft, however struggled to seek out consistency on the court docket.
Throughout two seasons with the Sparks, Cooke appeared in a complete of 68 video games, together with 4 begins, at somewhat over 11 minutes per recreation. She averaged 4.3 factors, 0.8 rebounds and 0.7 assists with splits of 30 % taking pictures from the sector, 27.4 % taking pictures from the three-point line and 76.6 % taking pictures from the free-throw line.
Clearly Cooke must elevate her taking pictures percentages so as to be a succesful guard on the WNBA stage. She would seem like in competition for a backup guard spot on the Storm roster.
Wheeler seems to be just like the early favourite because the backup level guard to Skylar Diggins-Smith, whereas the Storm nonetheless have to determine how second-year guard Nika Mühl suits of their future plans.