Flau'jae Johnson joins Seattle Storm: ‘I'm so ready to get this started'

On her first day at work in the WNBA, several new teammates and a giant Welcome Flaujae" sign outside the team's practice facility greeted the Storm's rookie sensation as she stepped out of a black SUV.

"I'm so ready to get this started," said the bubbly and energetic Flau'jae Johnson on Thursday morning.

Not since Ken Griffey Jr. debuted with the Mariners in 1989 has a young professional athlete landed in Seattle with as much charisma and star power as the 22-year-old Johnson, who is a basketball player, recording artist/rapper and philanthropist with a megawatt smile, expanding portfolio of projects and a passionate fan base that includes music celebrities Jay-Z and Lil Wayne.

Johnson, who wakes up at 5 a.m., just might be the busiest person in professional sports, but she doesn't plan on slowing down now that she's in the WNBA.

"Some people, when they get to where they want it to be, and they worked all their life to be (there), they get a little complacent," she said. "But me, I feel like I'm back at the starting line."

Twenty-four hours earlier, Johnson was in New York wearing a No. 20 Gary Payton Sonics shirt and Storm baseball cap while sharing a couch with co-hosts Michael Strahan and George Stephanopoulos on the set of "Good Morning America."

During a five-hour flight to Seattle, the former LSU star realized how much her life is going to change after the Storm acquired her in a stunning trade during Monday night's WNBA draft.

"I'm just thinking, 'My life is starting. I'm a pro now. This is my job,'" said Johnson, who was taken No. 8 overall. "I just got drafted. So, I'm like ‘My dreams are coming true.' But then, I'm moving to the Pacific (Northwest). I'm moving to the other side of the country. I'm from the South. And I'm just like, ‘Oh my gosh, I'm going to be alone.'

"But I'm very excited. I get to start my life. I get to go to this great organization. I got so much fan love. I'm reading all the comments on the plane. They're like, ‘Oh my God, we're so ready for you.' So it was a whirlwind of emotions. It was happy, nervous and excited. It was whirlwind, but I'm glad I'm here."

It's been a life-changing week for Johnson, whose collegiate career ended after LSU's buzzer-beating loss to Duke in the Sweet 16.

Three days before the draft, she filmed a video for her latest single "Woah" on the 103rd floor of the Empire State Building.

On Monday night, Johnson, who was one of 15 WNBA prospects invited to the draft, arrived on the orange carpet at The Shed at Hudson Yards in New York wearing a sleek, black cutout velvet gown with a fuzzy black shawl fur that drew raves.

"The fit was amazing," she said. "I wanted to do something different. I didn't want it to look like I was at the WNBA draft. I wanted to make a statement. I wanted this to be a change, so next year I know girls are going to be stepping like how I stepped."

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After WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert announced Johnson's name with the No. 8 pick, she walked across the stage as loudspeakers blared her song, "Woah."

"I'm a rapper and a baller, baby. It's no other fo'. Millionaire straight out of college baby, I been bout my dough."

"Now, how crazy is that?" said Johnson, who is nicknamed "Big 4 after her jersey number. "It was like a dream. It was like my worlds colliding, my song playing and me getting drafted in the same night. Iconic."

Minutes later, Johnson found out the Storm orchestrated a trade earlier in the day that sent their No. 16 overall pick and a 2028 second-round pick to the Golden State Valkyries, who used the No. 8 overall pick to select the dynamic 5-foot-10 combo guard for Seattle.

"Shortly after I got off the stage, I got traded to Seattle and that was a whirlwind of emotions as well," Johnson said. "My agent came running back to me. He was like, ‘You just got traded to Seattle.' But he (said) they traded to get you. Like, they really want you.

"And I was like, ‘Bet. I want to go where they want me. I want to go where they see a future and a plan for me.' They want to develop you. So, it was a no-brainer. I wasn't really attached to the team that I got drafted to and more to the fact that my name got called. That was the blessing. I'm now where I'm supposed to be."

If Johnson had any doubts and apprehensions about her new team, they were alleviated when she landed at Sea-Tac Airport for the first time and was greeted by cheers from Storm fans as she walked off the plane.

"I was really surprised, and I don't get surprised because I'm very nosy and I always know stuff," Johnson said. "But I did not expect that. I was like, ‘Wow.' It felt so good because I was coming here by myself, and I was literally like, ‘I'm so nervous. I'm so nervous.'

"So, to have that warm welcome, it kind of was like, ‘OK, I don't have nothing to be nervous about."

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Admittedly, Johnson's first impressions of Seattle were skewed, considering she arrived during an unseasonal hailstorm that pelted the city for a few minutes Thursday.

"The city is nice though," said Johnson, who is from Savannah, Ga. "It's more of a city than I thought it was. I thought it was more trees, like all trees because when I was (in) the plane, I'm like, ‘OK, these are all trees, and I see mountains.' We got closer, I saw the buildings.

"My view from my apartment is nice. It's amazing. I love views. It's a beautiful city."

During a 15-minute interview inside a second-floor meeting room at the Storm practice facility, Johnson couldn't keep her eyes off the handful of Storm players participating in a workout.

"Professionals," she said, when asked what she sees.

On Sunday, Johnson begins Storm training camp alongside touted rookies Awa Fam and Taina Mair, who were taken in the first round of the draft.

The trio are the newest additions to a revamped roster highlighted by Ezi Magbegor, Dominique Malonga and Jordan Horston under the guidance of first-year coach Sonia Raman.

"I want to be a sponge," said Johnson, who started 139 of 141 games at LSU and won an NCAA tournament title as a freshman in 2023. "I want to learn. I want to learn. I really want to learn. I feel like this is a new level. It's the same game, but it's a new level. And I feel like me really learning the ins and outs and the nuances of the game, and picking coach's brain, I'm very excited to do that.

"I want my knowledge of the game to catch up with my athletic ability and with my skill set. With what I can do on the floor, I want my mind to be sharper, and I feel like with experience, that'll happen. So, I'm really just ready for the experience."

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This story was originally published April 16, 2026 at 11:44 PM.