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After spending the first six seasons of her WNBA career with the Indiana Fever, Victoria Vivians knew she was ready for a fresh start. The Fever and Victoria Vivians agreed to a contract buyout during the offseason, as per Chloe Peterson of The Indy Star, and she was then signed by the Seattle Storm.
Vivians was the No. 8 pick in the 2018 WNBA Draft by the Fever and had been one of the players on the roster who had been on the team the longest. The Fever have been mired in a rebuild in recent seasons capped off by back to back No. 1 overall picks in 2023 and 2024.
The Fever never made the playoffs during Vivians' tenure with the team and she began to feel like her career was getting stagnant. The opportunity for a new start this season was something that she welcomed.
“I had been there six years. Nothing really changed for me, I just felt like I needed to move away and just grow somewhere else,” Vivians told ClutchPoints in an exclusive interview. “I feel like I was just at a steady pace and I feel like just getting out of my comfort zone would be good, which it is good.”
Victoria Vivians was signed by the Storm just a few days after she was cut from the Fever. The Storm had already completed their roster transformation prior to signing Vivians. During the first few weeks of WNBA free agency, the Storm signed All-Star guard Skylar Diggins-Smith. They followed that up with the addition of All-Star forward/center Nneka Ogwumike.
With their new additions, the Storm had vaulted themselves back into WNBA title contender status. But to win a championship, elite teams need elite role players which is exactly what Vivians is. She also had a link to the Storm in assistant coach Pokey Chatman who was the head coach with the Fever during Vivians' first two seasons.
“Pokey [Chatman] coached me my first year as a rookie and so I knew what she expected of me and I knew what to expect from her,” Vivians said. “And also talking to Noelle [Quinn] I just felt like it was a good fit so I decided to come here.”
Victoria Vivians does the dirty work for the Storm
This season, Vivians has been one of the more dependable players off the Storm's bench. She's played in 27 games, including 15 starts, at a little over 13 minutes per game. She's been averaging 3.3 points and 2.4 rebounds while shooting 34 percent from the three-point line.
But Vivians' impact for the Storm goes beyond the stat sheet. She's been a good defensive player and is sometimes tasked with guarding the opposing team's top wing scorer. It's not just her on-ball defense though, she's able to blow up possessions by causing deflections and forcing turnovers.
It's a pride issue for her in terms of not letting the player she's guarding show her up.
“Honestly, going out there, I go out there to defend. But also to play my role and try to fix what's broken,” Vivians said. “If nothing is broken then just continue doing what we're doing. But defensively, I really just became like that about two years ago. Just keeping my mind on the defensive end. For one I take pride in it, I don't want to get scored on because it's kind of embarrassing.”
The Storm got off to a bit of a slow start to the 2024 season, but have since turned things around. As they've continued to develop chemistry and get used to one another, the wins have started to come. They've hit a bit of a rough patch coming out of the Olympic break going 1-2 as the season resumed.
But the Storm are still 18-10 and currently in fourth place in the WNBA standings. They're a half a game ahead of the defending champion Las Vegas Aces. Just last season the Storm went 11-29 and missed the playoffs for the first time since the 2015 season. Vivians has noticed the improved cohesiveness on the team since the start of the season and how the Storm are clicking on the court.
“It's growing, it's getting better. We all came in, me, Nneka [Ogwumike], Skylar [Diggins-Smith], Nika [Muhl] is new,” Vivians said. “It's really been a half-new squad. But we are meshing well. It took some time but we're getting it together.”
