July 12, 2024
‘I can, I will’: Inside Jordan Horston’s sophomore season leap
By Bella Munson
Jewell Loyd: 'She's right on track to really be a dominant player in this league'
SEATTLE — During her rookie season, Seattle Storm guard Jordan Horston was faced with the daunting task of playing a starting role in the WNBA. Now in her second year, buoyed by important offseason work and supportive teammates, Horston is confidently playing her best pro basketball yet.
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After coming off the bench the first 15 games of the season, Horston has started the last seven, beginning with Seattle’s home match against the Connecticut Sun on June 23. The Storm have lost just twice during the seven-game stretch at home, starting with the 72-61 victory over the then-No. 1 Sun.
While playing largely similar minutes to her rookie season, but with a decreased role as she now plays alongside four All-Stars, Horston has bettered her points, assists, rebounds, turnovers and personal fouls per game. Her biggest area of growth has been her efficiency, both in terms of the decreased usage and increased field goal percentage, jumping from 36.7% shooting from the floor to 46.9%.
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While playing a bench role, Horston has had gratitude for every minute she’s played, never knowing how much time she would get to spend on the court. Horston told The Next she went into the season “with the mindset of, I’m grateful to be here, I’m grateful to still be playing this game at a high level and in front of all these amazing fans doing what I love to do.”
Head coach Noelle Quinn has seen Horston come off the bench with sharpness and stay locked into her assignments. Watching Horston’s confidence grow and the ways she has impacted the Storm on both sides of the floor convinced Quinn that Horton was ready to start alongside her star-studded teammates.
Though Victoria Vivians was Seattle’s starter at the three position to begin the season, Quinn felt Horston would be the best matchup against DeWanna Bonner when the Sun came to town. Quinn wanted to match Horston to Bonner’s minutes at the three as much as possible and it was very effective, holding the league’s fifth all-time leading scorer to nine points on 4-for-13 shooting and two assists with terrific ball pressure.
“I was just really comfortable,” Horston explained after the win. “I mean, yeah, I was really nervous to start the game but I was just like, just get out my head, just go out there play basketball and you try to affect the game. Start on defense and find ways to impact the game. So I just stuck to that. I have great teammates instilling confidence in me so that helps.”
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The former Tennessee guard says she thinks her confidence has grown because now she feels like she belongs in the league.
“Last year I was like wow, deer in the headlights, but now I feel like I can make a mark on this league,” Horston said. “But it was just like an excited feeling — you know, it’s my first start of the season, a big challenge with DeWanna [Bonner] and I took it personally. So I was more excited — they see something in me, they believe in me and I’m doing what I need to do.”
Putting defense first
At the beginning of the year, Jordan Horston texted her head coach to say that she wanted to guard every team’s best player — and she meant it. In back-to-back games against the Wings, Horston guarded Arike Ogunbowale, one of the league’s top scorers. Though Horston couldn’t keep Ogunbowale from scoring in the 20s, she made the sharp-shooting guard frustrated and inefficient.
Quinn credited this to Horston’s careful preparation and focus on the scout. “What you’re seeing on the court is a direct correlation to the preparation,” Quinn said after the game.
Horston says she enjoyed guarding Ogunbowale, her drive fueled by her opponent’s reactions and emotions. “I literally just love stopping whoever’s in front of me, the best player, whoever, they’re not gonna get what they want to get,” Horston said after the Storm’s 97-76 win over Dallas. “So I feel like I take pride in that and I’m happy that they trust me and it’s allowing my game to like to flow, like I’m a lot more loose when I’m starting on the defensive end.”
Standing at 6’2, Horston is incredibly versatile on the defensive end, able to guard one through four. Quinn loves the variety of defensive schemes they can throw at teams and the pressure Horston can take off of Skylar Diggins-Smith and Jewell Loyd.
After Seattle’s second consecutive victory against the Wings, Loyd praised the young player she has taken under her wing.
“I knew that she has a lot of things in her to really make her be a star in this league, defensively,” Loyd told media. “And sometimes I don’t think she understands how good she can really be at times and so it’s really cool to see the progress from last year, from the beginning of the season of this year, from game to game and it’s amazing.”
“So to me, I’m not surprised or shocked by this at all. This is what I envisioned for her in this league and she’s right on track to really be a dominant player in this league,” Loyd continued. Horston then joked it was the nicest thing Loyd ever said to her, causing Loyd to shake her head and roll her eyes as Horston dramatically faked wiping away tears.
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Strong focus on defense didn’t come out of the blue for Horston. She went to a high school that prided itself on defense, with a coach that wouldn’t play you if you didn’t play defense, no matter how many points you scored. Her AAU experience was very similar. These experiences turned her into a defensive guru because it was how she stayed on the court, but Horston also finds defense satisfying.
“Everybody wants to score and it feels good when you’re impacting a player, and frustrating a player, and they’re not getting to their spot, or it’s not easy for them,” Horston told The Next. “I feel like it’s like, I don’t know, the competitive spirit in me really turns up when I’m on defense.”
Offseason work
Loyd and Horston have shared a special relationship since Horston was drafted. The two-time WNBA champion texted Horston after the 2023 WNBA Draft, telling the recent Tennessee grad, “I got you, I’m taking you under my wing.”
Loyd has stuck to that promise, going as far as to invite Horston to train with her at her home in Chicago for a month during the offseason.
“Jordan had a big commitment this offseason of coming down and training with me and she guarded some of the best players in the world and it wasn’t easy,” Loyd said. “It was a lot of frustration and we challenged her every single day, and I think that allowed her to understand that she can do the same thing here. And I think that built her confidence early, knowing that she could guard grown men and make them frustrated the way she has been able to do that in the last couple games.”
Horston agreed that Loyd helped improve her confidence in the offseason. But what she learned went far beyond that; she learned what it takes beyond the court to reach the elite level.
“Of course Jewell Loyd is a superstar, she’s great. And just to be able to see what she eats, how she recovers, what she’s doing with her body — she’s given me so, so much information for me to be in this in this league for a long time, to be a superstar in this league,” Horston told The Next. “So I’m just blessed and thankful for her for taking me in.”
Horston’s mom sent her a video on social media that showed Loyd looking at her proudly while she answered questions post-game. Though Horston thought the video was really funny, she also felt it represented her relationship with the veteran Loyd well.
“She really be looking out for me like a big sister for real,” Horston said. “She really cares about, she really is pulling for me, staying in my ear, making sure I’m eating, she’s just looking out for me and I really appreciate it.”
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Experience from her rookie season has combined with offseason weight room time and film sessions to give Horston confidence that she can hold her own this year. “I’m able to play fluently and make reads on my own and not worry about if it’s the right read or not,” she noted.
Horston also physically changed her shot in the offseason. After watching a recorded workout, she realized her shot was coming oddly from her side. Now, she shoots more efficiently in a straight line without wasted motion. Along with having surgery to heal a shoulder injury sustained during her rookie season, Horston came into the 2024 WNBA season healthier and stronger.
“I think it really just helped her game in terms of physically but [also] mentally, just growing in all aspects of the game,” Storm center Mercedes Russell told The Next. “And you can see it now, she’s like our energy spark defensively, is a great two way player. So I think the offseason was really good for just growing from rookie year to year two.”
Mind for the game
Conversations around Jordan Horston’s basketball skill have tended to focus on her physical ability. But while Horston is a remarkable athlete with a great vertical leap and disruptive length, she is a true lover of the game with a high basketball IQ and passion for the sport.
It is Horston’s ‘want to’ attitude that Quinn thinks underscores her ability to be elite. The first time Horston spoke to Quinn, she asked Quinn to show her the way to becoming great.
“A lot of young athletes, they’re want to is not as deep as Jordan,” Quinn said. “For her to be humble enough to understand that it’s going to be a grind but also sharp enough to hone in on the things that we’ve been locked in on since last season — the talent is there. She is an elite athlete. But what I want to continue to talk about with her is her acumen, her mind for the game.”
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“She’s a sharp basketball player. She’s very smart. And even though she’s young, growing and all these things in this league, she’s studying the game, studying tendencies, doing things that I’ve seen elite defenders do firsthand. They don’t just come on the floor and think that they can stop people. You have to prepare. You have to watch film, you have to look at numbers you have to ask questions. She’s doing all of those things,” Quinn continued.
Horston’s love for the game is clear, as she continues building upon an existing strong knowledge base, particularly growing up playing the point guard position. “I always had that vision, always had that basketball IQ. I watched a lot of basketball. I was always in the gym,” Horston said. “So I feel like just that in itself allowed me to see the floor and see the game the way that I do.”
Accountability trio
In order to accelerate building chemistry between her players, Quinn assigned everyone on the team to accountability pairs, and one accountability trio. These groups have consistent check-ins and touch points to help build relationships. Jordan Horston was assigned to the single trio alongside center Ezi Magbegor and forward Nneka Ogwumike.
“At the end of the day the intention behind it was real because those are two players that I feel she can learn a great deal from,” Quinn told The Next after a shootaround. “Ezi, you know, being young in this league but still being a very sharp, professional. And Nneka, having her veteran experience but also being someone who Jordan can emulate and potentially be in her career as it relates to [being] a champion, defensive, offensive awards and all the things that Nneka encompasses as a as a human being.”
“I told her, that’s rare air, and I want her to breathe that air and see what it takes to be that elite level,” Quinn said. “Because it’s not just talent on the basketball court, it’s what you do off the court — it’s your preparation, it’s your mind, it’s your discipline. And for her to have access to them in a different way … is going to help her career.”
The former WNBA Champion and MVP Ogwumike says she has really enjoyed getting to know Horston and her passion for the game through this partnership. She also believes strongly in Horston’s abilities as a player and teammate.
“She’s not only capable, she’s like the future of this team and it’s really fun to be able to play with her and see how she evolves every game,” Ogwumike told media on June 27.
After Horston registered her first double-double of the season against Dallas on June 29, Magbegor praised her accountability buddy. “She’s very athletic and she works hard, not only in the game, but away from the court as well,” Magbegor said. “It’s nice to see her being rewarded. She has done a great job in the starting lineup. We’ve all seen how she loves to push the ball, she loves to learn, and she’s great at facilitating. She brings a little bit of everything to the game. It’s nice to see her get her double-double.”
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So far, Horston is benefiting from her trio just as Quinn hoped. She is learning so much from them that, when asked, she couldn’t name just one thing she has learned.
“I’m learning something from them every single day I’m around them,” Horston said. “But it’s really just like having those ears that I can talk to and shoulder I can cry on whenever I’m having a hard day and just them being there and just having energy.”
Horston considers herself a big relationship person and has greatly appreciated the support of her trio. “They’re stuck with me for life,” Horson said. “Like I don’t care where they go, I don’t care where I go, I don’t care what happens — they’re gonna be in my life forever because they’re some good people”
Confidently humble mentality
The mental aspect of the game has become a big area of focus for Horston in her pursuit of greatness.
“She definitely works hard physically on the court. I think that her next step probably will be just understanding her capabilities,” Ogwumike told The Next. “I think she knows, but I think sometimes she boxes herself in a little bit and maybe she overthinks a little. I kind of want her to play a little bit more free and confident, knowing that she’s capable of so many great things.”
Horston knows how important confidence is when playing basketball. Her dad used to tell her to shoot the ball with confidence and that lesson has stuck with her. “The mind is so powerful you know, you say ‘this three is going in’ and you can shoot like this,” Horston said, demonstrating a wild shot with an imaginary ball, “and if you believe it, shoot, one of them might just go in because you believe it.”
But she also understands that, in a competitive league like the WNBA, you can’t guarantee that anyone else will believe in you. So, Horston instead emphasized the importance of believing in yourself: “I always was so humble and so like; ‘I know I need to get better, I need to get better, it’s not a finished product,'” she said. “But I had to take a step back and think, I really came a long way and I’m really putting the work in and good things are happening and it’s okay to give myself a little bit of grace.”
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After defeating Indiana, Ogwumike told the press how she thinks Horston sometimes fears failing so she is, “trying to help her flip that into understanding her confidence and knowing how she can succeed.”
Though Horston admitted she has struggled with fear, she feels it’s more a fear of letting people down. “I’m big on people pleasing — well, the ones that I actually give a fuck about — I want to do the right thing all the time for those people and my fear is messing up and letting them down.”
This has led her to be really hard on herself at times, but Horston feels she has gotten better at managing it. She knows that there is no such thing as a perfect game, and is learning that her teammates aren’t going to hate or leave her because a mistake during a game.
One thing that has helped with this understanding is her personal motto for the season, something her accountability trio helped think up for her and each other. Ogwumike’s is ‘who’s gonna stop me?’ Magbegor’s is ‘I am that girl.’
Horston’s is ‘I can, I will.’
Right where she’s meant to be
Jordan Horston was expected to be a lottery pick in the 2023 WNBA Draft, but fell to ninth overall where the Storm picked her up. Incredible support and opportunity has turned what initially felt like a snub into a belief that it “was God putting me right where I need to be.”
Playing for Tennessee, Horston loved her coaches and felt like she was able to be herself, but says the feeling is different in Seattle.
“I feel like it’s different here because I can identify with the people that I’m around, like Black women, and it’s very empowering to see Black women in charge and I just love it,” Horston said. “It’s like an energy. It’s like a feel that I get when I step into this gym that is like uplifting, and it’s like a breath of fresh air.”
“As soon as I got to Seattle it was like, ‘Whoa, this is crazy. This feels good.’ It’s great people around me that care about me, that’s pulling for me, like minds that want the same thing.”
Written by Bella Munson
Bella has been a contributor for The Next since September 2023 and is the site's Seattle Storm beat reporter. She also writes for The Equalizer while completing her Journalism & Public Interest Communication degree at the University of Washington.
