Dominique Malonga is an unusual player in unusual circumstances for a rookie. Most lottery picks are consigned to at least one year of joker teammates, demoralizing blowouts, and moral victories only. “Being bad” is generally the reason teams end up in the lottery at all. First-overall pick Paige Bueckers, for instance, will almost surely lose more games with the Dallas Wings this year than she did in her entire UConn career. To the extent that there’s any silver lining in playing on a loser, it’s the chance to get lots of low-stakes reps in different roles and alongside different people. Bueckers is also averaging nearly 35 minutes a game, fourth-most in the league, more than the likes of Napheesa Collier, Breanna Stewart, Alyssa Thomas and A’ja Wilson, the usual workhorse suspects.
Malonga, who went second-overall to the Seattle Storm, is not quite averaging 10 minutes a game this year. That’s no huge surprise. Bueckers entered her rookie season as a polished plug-and-play guard four years Malonga’s senior. And from draft night, it was pretty clear that the timelines of the 19-year-old Malonga and of the Seattle core—Nneka Ogwumike, Skylar Diggins, Gabby Williams, and Ezi Magbegor—might be slightly misaligned. But this isn’t a terrible fit for a raw young player who’s evoked some “baby giraffe” comparisons as she gets used to the pace and intensity of WNBA basketball.
