Flau’jae Johnson’s first preseason game for the Seattle Storm came against the team that drafted her, and it came fast. Johnson started Saturday night at Chase Center against the Golden State Valkyries, less than two weeks after the WNBA draft sent her eighth overall to Golden State and then, on the same night, on to Seattle.
Johnson said the moment still felt surreal. “It’s crazy, I was just walking out there like, ‘Wow, I’m in the WNBA,’” she said outside the Storm locker room after what she called “a great time” and the “highlight of my life.” The trade that moved her rights to Seattle in exchange for Marta Suarez and a 2028 second-round selection surprised her, but the pace of the transition has not shaken her. “It’s going fast, but I kind of operate well in chaos,” she said.
That adjustment has become part of the job for Johnson, who is beginning her professional career after LSU. Seattle is also in transition, with a new head coach in Sonia Raman and a roster full of fresh faces. Johnson said the change has been easier because veteran teammates have helped her settle in, and the feeling has reminded her of LSU’s own first-year build under Kim Mulkey. “Very comforting because I’m used to that,” Johnson said. “At LSU, we were building first year. (Coach Kim) Mulkey was in her first year with her group so it’s definitely that same feeling. Everybody’s learning each other.”
Her debut also landed in the middle of a team that is still taking shape, with Seattle’s new pieces trying to fit together quickly. Johnson said that kind of environment suits her, and she described joining the group as a blessing. That makes her early minutes less about a single exhibition and more about how fast the Storm can make a new player feel like she belongs, even before the regular season begins.
