Takeaways from the Seattle Storm’s 2022 schedule

The Storm open the season on May 6, christening Climate Pledge Arena against Minnesota. After that marquee matchup between two of the winningest teams in league history, they renew the Las Vegas rivalry two days later. A home-and-home with Phoenix on May 11 and 14 caps a rivalry-filled opening slate for Seattle.

That second game against the Mercury kicks off an eight-game homestand, tied for the longest streak in W history, per Kurtis Zimmerman of Across the Timeline; from May 14 through June 7, the Storm will continuously enjoy the comforts of the Emerald City and truly break in Climate Pledge. Just three of those games come against teams that finished in the top half of the league standings last year, allowing Seattle to establish an early cushion in this year’s standings.

Despite that lengthy homestand, the Storm’s longest road trip is for five games, immediately thereafter. And that’s their only away streak longer than three games throughout the season.

Backloaded schedule

Seattle plays Indiana three times in early July, Dallas four and Los Angeles three times by mid-July, Atlanta twice and New York thrice by the All-Star break. That leaves little room for cupcakes down the stretch: The Storm’s schedule concludes with Connecticut, Washington (twice), Minnesota, Vegas, Chicago, Minnesota again, and a finale in Vegas.

They better hope the easy sledding in May and June affords some room for error down the stretch.

Other games of note

• June 5, vs. Connecticut: rematch of the 2021 Commissioner’s Cup
• July 30 and 31, at Washington: Seattle’s first back-to-back against since May 31 and June 1, 2019 at Atlanta and Chicago, and its first against the same team since opening the 2009 season against Sacramento June 6 and 7.

Around the league

• May 6, Los Angeles at Chicago: Sparks watch Candace Parker receive the championship ring; Gabby Williams revenge game
• May 6, Las Vegas at Phoenix: rematch of the 2021 Semifinals
• May 13, Las Vegas at Atlanta: Tanisha Wright and Dan Padover against their old team
• May 15, Atlanta at Indiana: matchup between the top two rookies
• May 31, Phoenix at Chicago: rematch of the 2021 Finals
• June 10, Chicago at Connecticut: rematch of the 2021 Semifinals

Playoff scheduling conflicts

As our Phoenix reporter, Alex Simon, has chronicled, there can be problems with W teams’ playoff schedules when their arenas have already booked events during the playoff window. Like the Mercury’s Footprint Center, Climate Pledge has three events set during that window (concerts by The Killers and Swedish House Mafia, and WWE Smackdown). Hopefully, the league’s schedule-makers can plan around them.

The full schedule is listed below:

May 8 at Las Vegas*

May 11 at Phoenix*

May 14 vs. Phoenix*

May 18 vs. Chicago

May 20 vs. Los Angeles*

May 27 vs. New York

May 29 vs. New York

June 3 vs. Dallas*

June 5 vs. Connecticut

June 7 vs. Atlanta

June 10 at Dallas*

June 12 at Dallas*

June 14 at Minnesota*

June 17 at Connecticut

June 19 at New York

June 23 vs. Washington

June 25 vs. Los Angeles

June 29 vs. Las Vegas*

July 1 vs. Indiana

July 3 at Atlanta

July 5 at Indiana

July 7 at Los Angeles*

July 10, All-Star Game

July 12 vs. Dallas

July 17 vs. Indiana

July 20 at Chicago

July 22 at Phoenix

July 24 vs. Atlanta

July 26, Commissioner’s Cup

July 28 at Connecticut

July 30 at Washington

July 31 at Washington

Aug. 3 vs. Minnesota

Aug. 7 vs. Las Vegas

Aug. 9 at Chicago

Aug. 12 at Minnesota

Aug. 14 at Las Vegas

Aug. 17-Sep. 21, playoffs

* = Commissioner’s Cup game