One year and nine months to the date — 639 days to be exact — since her last WNBA game, Skylar Diggins-Smith made a triumphant return to the league with her new team Saturday night.
“It’s been a long journey,” said the 33-year-old Diggins-Smith, who gave birth to her second child during her maternity leave. “It’s been two years almost. It’s not easy coming back to this league.
“I feel like an old rookie being on this team just trying to learn the new system and trying to learn the new players and my new teammates. But I want for nothing in Seattle. The team has given me a very warm welcome and made me feel very comfortable, and I really love that.”
At times during the WNBA Canada Game, Diggins-Smith looked as if she were in midseason form while driving for layups, draining a step-back three-pointer and tossing a lob to Jewell Loyd for an alley-oop layup that drew huge applause from the sellout crowd of 16,655 at Rogers Place in Edmonton, Alberta.
Diggins-Smith staked the Storm to a seven-point lead in the third quarter. However, Seattle’s starters, including newcomer Nneka Ogwumike, sat on the bench in the fourth while the Los Angeles Sparks claimed a comeback 84-79 victory.
In a dazzling debut, Diggins-Smith finished with a team-high 14 points on 5-for-8 shooting, four rebounds, five assists and five steals in 20 minutes.
“I knew this was going to be a feel game for me rhythm wise,” said Diggins-Smith, whose previous game was Aug. 4, 2022, with the Phoenix Mercury. “Just being in shape, I’m still working on that, so I really just tried to have a clear mind and not really put any expectations on myself. I play with a great group of women beside me that put me in position to be successful.
“I’m glad we still have some time before our first game, but it felt good tonight just to be out there again and to be in this atmosphere was amazing and to be debuting with my new team.”
Loyd connected on 4 of 11 shots for 12 points while Ogwumike also struggled to find the range on her shot and tallied four points on 1-for-6 shooting in the first game against her former team.
Backup forward Joyner Holmes added 13 points and Sami Whitcomb had 12 points, including four three-pointers off the bench.
The short-handed Storm, who were missing forwards Ezi Magbegor (rest) and Jordon Horston (ankle), connected on their first four shots and got off to a 9-3 start, which included baskets by Diggins-Smith, Loyd and Ogwumike.
Seattle went up 35-33 with 5:59 in the second quarter when Diggins-Smith threw a pass to Loyd, who converted a contested layup before crashing to the floor.
The Storm were up 44-38 at halftime and took their largest lead (46-38) early in the third quarter on Mercedes Russell’s layup.
With the starters resting on the bench after a short night, Whitcomb and Holmes spearheaded a comeback attempt that trimmed Seattle’s 10-point deficit midway in the fourth to three near the end.
Down 82-79 with 21 seconds left, coach Noelle Quinn called timeout and drew a play for reserve guard Kiana Williams, who curled around a screen and missed a three-pointer on the wing with 13.4 seconds remaining.
“We wanted to make sure our starters got the bulk of the first-half minutes, and we were able to do that,” Quinn said. “I saw in the second unit some really good things, especially from Sami.
“We know she’s a sniper. Whenever she’s on the floor, I try to find opportunities to get her the ball to stretch the floor with her three-point shooting but also her ability to play-make a little bit. Sami can play with multiple players because she has that ability.”
Sparks forward Dearica Hamby scored a game-high 17 points while rookie Cameron Brink tallied 11 and Lexie Brown and rookie Rickea Jackson each had 10.
The Storm play their final exhibition 7 p.m. Tuesday against Diggins-Smith’s former team the Mercury at Climate Pledge Arena.
“It’s just preseason y’all,” said Diggins-Smith, who tried to downplay her performance. “I try not to internalize too many things. I feel good about myself, but I definitely see where I want to improve and there’s still some work that needs to be done.
“We got to see everybody together first, and we haven’t had an opportunity to do that yet.”
Note
- Rookie guard Nika Muhl, who was born Zagreb, Croatia, did not travel with the Storm due to “visa issues,” Quinn said.
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