Dominique Malonga Gets It Done In Small Doses
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.
Seattle’s frontcourt depth and Malonga’s inexperience mean her minutes are few and erratic. Head coach Noelle Quinn sometimes shields her from certain opponents altogether; Malonga once played two minutes against the All-Star bigs in Atlanta, and she recently played five minutes against a Valykries team that doesn’t let opponents into the paint. But the scarcity of Malonga minutes makes games like last night’s in Chicago feel even more special. In a career-high 17 minutes, she put up 14 points, 10 rebounds, three assists, and two blocks. Teams tend to go the draft-and-stash route with young international prospects, so she also managed some rare accomplishments, becoming the youngest WNBA player to record a double-double and the youngest player to score 100 career points.
This rookie was on the good side of a demoralizing blowout—the Storm went on to beat a shorthanded Sky team 95-57—and so she got a little leash to show off. The 6-foot-6 phenom scared Sky players away from the rim and wriggled her long arms to score through contact. In transition and when she switched onto wings, she was downright uncanny. No one else moves that quickly at her size. A game without Angel Reese and Ariel Atkins admittedly meant playing the Sky on easy mode, but it was still nice to see Malonga win her coach’s trust. “The matchup was conducive to her being able to show what she’s been really working hard on …The reality of it is she’s 19 and we have to deal with the ups and downs of her on this journey,” Quinn said, adding that Malonga had been sharp in areas she hadn’t been in earlier games.
Quinn has sometimes used Malonga as a break-in-case-of-emergency option, sending her into games just to throw something new in an opponent’s face. She came into the second half of a game against the (yes, Jonquel Jones-less) Liberty in New York, kind of frustrated Breanna Stewart, and finished the night with 11 points and eight rebounds in just 10 minutes in the second half. Malonga minutes may still be too few and far between for my liking, but it’s nice to see her arc taking shape. Establishing oneself as an off-the-bench changeup and showing out against depleted opposition are two early markers on the trajectory from prospect to star. Next comes performances consistent enough that Quinn has no choice but to leave Malonga on the floor in any matchup. At the rate she’s improving, we’ll be there sooner rather than later.
