WNBA: Why the Storm’s Gabby Williams is having a career year

Gabby Williams has carved out a role for herself in the WNBA. In her seventh season, she is a dynamic forward with career averages of 7.9 points, 3.9 rebounds and 2.7 assists per game.

This season, Williams has taken a leap in her production. She is posting career highs in points, rebounds, assists and steals. Suddenly, her name is being mentioned as a potential All-Star. Let’s take a closer look at why she is having such a stellar 2025 campaign:

Gabby Williams, the shooter

If numbers don’t lie, then Williams is the truth.

It’s hard to find any player outperforming their expectations more than Williams.

She’s gotten very aggressive with her 3-point attempts, taking 4.9 per game. The most she’s taken previously was back in the 2020 season, when she attempted 3.2 shots from beyond the arc for the Chicago Sky. Back then, Williams only converted on 28 percent of those attempts. This year? She is converting on 41 percent of her shots from deep.

Her above-the-break 3s have been her strongest area of improvement. Williams has taken 55 of these shots and has converted on 22 of them so far. Compare that to last year, when she took only 26 and made just seven.

After the Storm beat the Mercury in a game where Williams shot 5-for-6 from 3-point range, she discussed why she’s having so much success from deep, explaining:

I think my teammates are doing a great job of finding me in transition, off of ball reversals and I think it’s just helping a lot for my confidence and hopefully we can just stay in this pocket. I‘ve been working with our coaches, too, and watching film, and we’re working on my release, and watching every detail of my shot is helping a lot, too.

If Williams continues to shoot it this well, teams won’t be able to sag off of her in transition, nor can they go under screens without getting punished for it. The progress Williams has made as a 3-point shooter is one of the biggest reasons Seattle has started this season off so well.

Gabby Williams, the swiper

Standing 5-foot-10 with a wingspan of 6-foot-3, Williams poses a lot of problems as a defensive player. This season, she’s taken her play on that side of the ball to another level.

Williams is leading the WNBA in steals, averaging 2.6 per game. It’s not just the fact that she’s causing these turnovers that’s impressive, but how Williams is doing it that truly stands out.

There is no way to steal a ball that Williams hasn’t mastered. From her 38 swipes, she’s had a balanced diet with 13 coming from Williams jumping in passing lanes, 16 on the ball and nine while trailing or recovering. The best example of her stealing ability came during a 98-67 win over the Los Angeles Sparks. In that game, Williams set the franchise record for steals with eight, as Los Angeles consistently reacted to their own ball movement more slowly than Williams.

She not only had a nose for the ball, but also the athleticism and vision to turn these turnovers into easy points for the Storm.

With all the ways Williams can steal the ball, devising a game plan to reduce her defensive impact is akin to attempting not to get bitten by a mosquito during a summer barbecue. You can take some precautions, but it will inevitably happen at a certain point.

Gabby Williams, the distributor

While Skylar Diggins leads Seattle in assists, averaging 6.1 per game, Williams is right behind her with 4.6.

Playing point-forward was the vision for Williams dating back to her rookie season with the Sky. Now, she’s executing facilitation at a level she never reached in Chicago.

She’s able to distribute the ball off the dribble, in transition and for spot-up jumpers at an elite level. This season, her passing has been evenly balanced between getting her team high-percentage looks near the basket and 3-point shots.

Of her 71 assists so far, 39 of them have lead to baskets inside the paint, and 22 have set up makes from beyond the arc. The two players who have benefited the most from her dimes are Nneka Ogwumike and Diggins. Diggins has scored on 15 passes from Williams, and Ogwumike has converted on 27 dimes from the forward.

For the Storm, that’s exactly the kind of chemistry you want to see being cultivated and looks at the rim you want to see being generated between your best players.

Gabby Williams, the floor raiser

The WNBA is the most competitive league in the world. To be a contender, you need your best players performing to their potential, luck with injuries and supporting players stepping up and outperforming expectations. So far, Williams fits the latter bill.

She is not only putting up career numbers, but is also one of the catalysts of the Storm’s success. Williams has unlocked her game and become a true triple threat. If she continues to play at this level, individual accolades—including an All-Star selection and Most Improved Player consideration—will be within her reach. For now, she has proven to be one of the best players on a contending team, exemplifying that progress isn’t always linear.

When given time, opportunity and the right system, potential and promise can converge with production, enabling a player to become the best version they can be.

Williams is having her best year yet, and if she continues on this path, the next destination for her and Seattle could be back to where they want to be: among the top teams vying for a WNBA championship.