The race for the final playoff spot in the WNBA came down to the last few days of the regular season, with the Seattle Storm clinching the eighth and final seed following their 74-73 win against the Golden State Valkyries on Tuesday night. Helping lead the way for the Storm was veteran guard Erica Wheeler who hit a big pull-up jumper in the final seconds of the fourth quarter to give the Storm the lead they would not relinquish.
Erica Wheeler came off the bench to score a team-high 17 points against the Valkyries to lead the Storm into the playoffs where they will face the No. 1 seed Minnesota Lynx this coming Sunday. In addition to her points, Wheeler also grabbed five rebounds and dished out two assists. She shot 6-of-13 from the field, including 5-of-7 from the three-point line.
Wheeler was signed as a free agent in the offseason, and has provided a strong veteran presence and solid on-court production for the Storm this season. Following Tuesday’s game, she will have appeared in all 44 games for Seattle this year. She has been averaging 10.2 points, 2.7 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 1.3 steals with splits of 39.8 percent shooting from the field, 36 percent shooting from the three-point line and 86 percent shooting from the free-throw line.
Wheeler is in her tenth season in the WNBA after going undrafted in the 2013 WNBA Draft. She made her league debut in 2015 with the Atlanta Dream, and has also played for the New York Liberty, Indiana Fever and Los Angeles Sparks in addition to the Storm.
The 2025 WNBA season has been an inconsistent one for the Storm as they hovered around .500 for most of the second half of the year. They will finish two games over .500 at 23-21. The team made the playoffs last season at the No. 5 seed, and fell to the Las Vegas Aces in the opening round in two straight games.
