Jewell Loyd

There were questions on how the Storm would fare in 2023 after star Breanna Stewart elected to sign with the Liberty as a free agent. While Seattle missed the playoffs, Loyd stepped up as the team's star and seems poised to handle a similar role in 2024. The 30-year-old averaged a career-high 24.7 points and 4.7 rebounds to go with 3.4 assists in 35.4 minutes per game. Her scoring average was the best in franchise history and the second in league history, behind only Diana Taurasi, who averaged 25.3 points per game in 2006. Loyd's availability has also been a strength in recent years, as she hasn't missed more than two games in a season since the 2019 campaign. She bolstered her fantasy value from the perimeter, as she led the league with 8.5 three-point attempts per game while finishing second in the WNBA with 3.0 three-pointers made per game. Loyd did this while shooting 35.6 percent from beyond the arc, her lowest mark since 2019. The Storm will get a solid rookie contributor with the fourth overall pick in this year's draft, but Loyd should remain a focal point for the team after signing a two-year contract extension near the end of the 2023 campaign. The Storm made several significant offseason acquisitions by signing Skylar Diggins-Smith and Nneka Ogwumike, but Loyd should be among the league's top fantasy contributors once again in 2024.

Loyd again proved her capabilities as a scorer in 2022, compiling 16.3 points per game, posting her best two-year stretch in the column since 2016-17. Loyd finished the season with the 10th-highest usage rate in the league (25.3 percent) and could see an uptick in that area following Breanna Stewart's (third in usage at 28.0) departure for New York via free agency. Loyd does a lot of her damage from beyond the arc with solid efficiency, connecting on 38.5 percent of her career-high 6.1 three-point attempts per game last season. The team should be Loyd's to lead in 2022, and there's no reason to anticipate a dropoff in her fantasy output. In fact, she may experience an uptick, given her added importance to the offense without Stewart.

Loyd was one of just three players to receive the Core designation in free agency this offseason, along with Jonquel Jones and Kahleah Copper, displaying how much the Storm wanted to keep her around. Loyd took another step forward in 2021, posting a career-best 17.9 points per game (seventh in WNBA) in addition to four boards and 3.8 assists per contest (14th in WNBA) while maintaining a high efficiency from deep (37.6 percent) despite an increase in volume to a career-high 5.6 attempts per game. Loyd finds her way into passing lanes on the defensive end, averaging 1.5 steals per contest (eighth in WNBA). Loyd should again pair with Sue Bird to form the Storm's primary backcourt in 2022.