Seattle Storm's Natisha Hiedeman flourishing in leadership role

Sitting on a podium, Natisha Hiedeman is playfully reminded of her advanced age - in terms of professional sports - and sheepishly smiles when her teenaged teammate Awa Fam alludes that she's not one of the Storm's corps of young players.

"How old are you?" 19-year-old Fam asked. "Thirty?"

Hiedeman shot a quizzical look, feigned indignation and blurted: "Awa? I'm still 29. Girl, chill."

When asked about the exchange later, Hiedeman reflected on the years separating the Storm standouts.

"I was looking at it, and I'm like, ‘Dang, it is a decade. That is kind of crazy,'" Hiedeman said. "But now she calls me young because she knows now that I'm young. I'm back to young again. I said, ‘Girl, I'm not even 30 yet, you can't call me old.'"

Well, that's a matter of perspective.

On the WNBA's third youngest team in which the average age is 24 years and 102 days, Hiedeman and 34-year-old Stefanie Dolson are affectionately dubbed the "old vets."

"She's been in the league a long time," said 22-year-old rookie Flau'jae Johnson, who drew laughs during a postgame news conference while referring to Hiedeman's experience.

Now, in her eighth season, for the first time in her career Hiedeman is fully embracing a leadership role as the savvy veteran.

"As you get older, you've been around the game, you know the game, you know the players, you know most of the actions, you know a lot of stuff that's going on," Hiedeman said. "As you get older, whether you're on the court or off the court, your job is to help everybody on the court.

"We obviously have a young team, so just helping them learn little knickknacks that the vets I had taught me."

The former Marquette star who was taken No. 18 overall in the second round of the 2019 WNBA draft spent her first five years with the Connecticut Sun on a veteran-laden team led by perennial All-Stars Alyssa Thomas, Jonquel Jones and Brionna Jones.

In 2024, Hiedeman was traded to the Minnesota Lynx and spent two years alongside veteran All-Stars Napheesa Collier, Kayla McBride and Courtney Williams.

The Storm targeted Hiedeman in free agency in 2026 and when asked what attracted them, first-year coach Sonia Raman said: "As we looked at our roster construction, her character, her team-first mentality, her ability and impact on winning. She's been in really high-level organizations."

Storm general manager Talisa Rhea lured Hiedeman to Seattle with a guaranteed two-year, $1.5 million deal, and in many ways she's surpassed expectations.

"Obviously, on the offensive end she really pops, Raman said. Just a tremendous shooter and has been a really great shooter in her career. And she has versatility as a combo guard. She can play the point, she can play off the ball, and so you can really put her wherever you need her on the offensive end. She has a really high IQ. She's a great communicator. She's really unselfish.

"On the defensive end, she's very long and she's really high level with deflections and with her reads, being able to understand positioning and where she needs to be. She brings a lot there as well in terms of being able to generate some activity for us to be able to get out and run."

It's still a relatively small sample size, but Hiedeman has never been better while averaging career-highs in scoring (13.9 points per game) rebounds (2.2) and assists (4.1). She's also averaging 11.6 shot attempts per game, which is five more than her career average 6.6.

"That's just my coaches trusting in me," said Hiedeman, who is shooting 42.6% on field goals and 35.4% on three-pointers. "That's all that is. Just my coach is trusting in me, me trusting in myself, and them telling me that when I'm aggressive, that's what's going to help the team."

In the past six outings, she's scored 18, 11, 15, 14, 17 and 16 points - the longest streak of double-digit games in her career. During the span, she's averaging 15.2 points and 4.7 assists.

"With T, it's preparation meets opportunity," Raman said. "She has a really great opportunity here and she's really doing the most that she can with that opportunity, and I think that it's going to even grow more from here.

"This is just a starting point. She's just learning how to play with Awa Fam. It's only been a few games. We're reintroducing (Dominique Malonga) back into the equation and then being able to play with both of them on the floor at the same time. And bringing (Katie Lou Samuelson) back into the equation as well."

The Storm's youth and injuries mostly explain why they've stumbled to 14th in the standings at 3-11 and are 0-5 in the Commissioner's Cup race before Friday's 7 p.m. game against the Golden State Valkyries (7-5, 2-2) at Climate Pledge Arena.

"I feel like the day that it clicks is going to be the day that we get some wins," Hiedeman said. "You're just going to feel a shift in everything. Again, we're young. Well, some of us are young, but overall, we're still trying to get all the pieces and all the parts and just be on a tandem together."

Barring a near-miraculous reversal, the Storm, who are riding seven-game losing streak that's tied for third longest is franchise history, are going to miss the playoffs for the first time since 2023.

It's an unfamiliar situation for Hiedeman, who has advanced to the semifinals in every season and has made three trips to the WNBA Finals.

"I always had the expectation to win," she said. "Here it's a little bit different, obviously. We still want to win games and that's our goal, but I think with this group, as long as we continue to grow, we know it's not going to happen overnight, but the future is what's important for this team.

"Right now, we're really focused on the culture of this team, and I think that when you have a good foundation of culture, the wins will come. We take pride in who we are as teammates, who we are as people, and how we show up every day. Even though we're losing, we still continue to show up every day for each other, for the fans and for the coaches."

Raman had a feeling Hiedeman would thrive in Seattle, but she's been better than expected.

"It's been really cool to see her be able to take this leap and actually do it," Raman said. "To be our starting point guard, to be out there orchestrating everything that we're doing, and then also just how connected she is with everybody on the team, off the court. She's just a really great fit in terms of just the way she's kind of a glue to everybody else in terms of her connections and the relationships and how intentional she's been with everybody.

"I wouldn't say I had expectations one way and that's because I didn't really know her. So, it's been really fun just getting to know her and getting to see the way that she's been growing with us."

Admittedly, the steely-cool Raman is more conservative in terms of styles than the flamboyant pink-haired Hiedeman, who comprises half of the viral streaming sensation StudBudz with former Lynx teammate Williams.

Still, the Storm coach and point guard are discovering they share several traits as their relationship grows.

"We're both problem solvers and people who really enjoy challenges," Raman said. "We've been talking so much after every game about what can we do, how can we move the needle, where are the areas for growth for us, and what are the solutions? Not just identifying what our challenges are, but what are some solutions. Putting our heads together, it's been really cool to be able to do that. I think we're very alike in that way.

"She's more of a risk taker when it comes to her personal flair and outside endeavors. I don't think that you'll see me with the pink hair, but I very much enjoy the personality that she brings to all of us."

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