Dallas Wings vs Seattle Storm Prediction, Picks, and Odds: Seattle Can't Take Cover vs. Sabally

The 2023 WNBA season is now in full swing, but some teams have still played only just one game after major reshaping in the offseason, and remain relative mysteries. Two such teams, the Dallas Wings and Seattle Storm, play tonight on Friday, May 26, and so we’re one step closer to figuring them out. 

The Wings surprised with a dominant opening game win against the Atlanta Dream and look perhaps like a sleeper team in the West. The Storm got hammered by the Las Vegas Aces, but was that an anomaly or predictive of a rough rebuilding season?

Our WNBA picks and predictions for Wings vs. Storm zero in on the play of fourth-year forward Satou Sabally, who is finally putting it all together.

Wings vs Storm best odds

Wings vs Storm picks and predictions

By shipping out Allisha Gray and Kayla Thornton, the Dallas Wings drastically remodeled their team in the offseason with an eye to the future.  But given the return was short on win-now players (outside of Natasha Howard) Wings fans were left wondering if the juice was worth the squeeze.

After one game however, it’s clear that part of the Wings' vision for revamping their roster wasn’t just about adding talent, but giving space to Satou Sabally to grow her game and fulfill her immense potential in Dallas.

Sabally was the No.2 overall pick in the 2020 draft, but her time in the W to date has been marred by injury. She’s yet to play 20 games in any of her first three seasons due to a variety of knee and ankle injuries (despite that spotty availability, she was selected to the 2021 WNBA All-Star team).

But it’s readily apparent from watching her in the Wings' first game against the Atlanta Dream why she was such a highly regarded prospect. Sabally is in part of German descent, but she’s a Swiss Army Knife of a player. 

Indeed, it might be quicker to name the things on a basketball court she can’t do. At 6-foot-4, she can do all the traditional things asked of a big: she posts up, sets hard screens, and rebounds. 

But she also has a guard’s toolkit, nailing pull-up threes in transition, working off the dribble, and making plays with the ball in her hands. She keeps her eyes up in transition and works to create open shots, in many ways, her game is reminiscent of Candace Parker’s, a do-it-all forward with interior scoring skills to keep the defense honest. And just like Parker, she has a nasty face-up game where she pivots her opponents off their feet and steps through to score at the rim.

The 3-point shot has been more theory than reality in her first few seasons, but she shoots at a relatively high volume and with confidence that makes one believe in her shot. She went 3-5 from downtown in the Wings opener, contributing to her 25 points on 7-13 from the field overall.

That would have been her high for points and minutes (by far) for any game she played in last season. While Sabally has been more of a bit player on prior iterations of the Wings, she’s a dominant star for her European team Fenerbahce, scoring over 23 points per game on 59.7% from two and 51% from three in the 2022-2023 season in Turkey. Clearly, things are going to be different this time around.

The Storm just don’t have anyone well-suited to match up with Sabally either. She’s the exact kind of player that Breanna Stewart would have guarded in the past, and Seattle is going to miss Stewie badly in this matchup.

My best bet: Satou Sabally Over 15.5 points (-115 at bet365)

Wings vs Storm spread and Over/Under analysis

As is generally the case with WNBA regular season lines, this game is available at quite a wide variety of numbers and has already seen significant movement at time of writing. I’ve seen this line as high as Wings -7 and as low as -5.5, so if you intend to bet the favorite getting in before this line gets as high as -8 as money pours in on the road favorite is key. 

The Storm were a mess in their debut against the Las Vegas Aces. What remains unclear is whether that is because the Aces are awesome (they are) or whether the Storm are really that bad. It can’t be overstated how much they miss Sue Bird’s ability to get the offense organized, as well as having Stewie as a first and last option on both ends of the floor.  Right now, Seattle is disconnected, small, and short on talent. 

They also desperately miss Gabby Williams, who remains in France finishing with her club team in Europe in defiance of new WNBA regulations that demanded her return for the beginning of the season — it’s not currently clear if she’ll play in the W this season. Without Williams, they’re asking an awful lot of Ezi Magbegor and Jewel Loyd, who don’t have particularly complimentary skillsets in the first place. 

While it’s no shame getting blown out by the Aces, the first game of the Storm’s season made it abundantly clear that their halcyon days of two-way play are gone. This team is in full-on rebuilding mode and embracing the youth movement, which means they’re going to push the pace and probably get scored on a lot. They don’t have great answers for Arike Ogunbowale, and even worse ones for Sabally. The Total was set between 163.5 and 162.5, with some movement to 162.  It’s too early for these versions of these teams for trends to be relevant to bettors yet, but I need to see a lot more from this Seattle offense before I’d consider the Over.

Wings vs Storm betting trend to know

Wings are 7-1 ATS in the last eight meetings. Find more WNBA betting trends for Wings vs. Storm.

Wings vs Storm game info

Wings vs Storm key injuries

Wings: Teaira McCown C (Questionable), Diamond DeShields G (Out), Lou Lopez Senechal F (Out). 
Storm: None.
Find our latest WNBA injury reports.

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