SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Flau’jae Johnson considers one of her talents to be adapting to anything that comes her way, so getting traded from Golden State to Seattle on draft night hardly threw off her rhythm during a whirlwind couple of weeks as she begins her professional career.
Now, she can't wait to get going as a WNBA rookie — and made her preseason debut in the starting lineup for the Storm in a 78-76 loss to the Valkyries on Saturday night at Chase Center.
“It's crazy, I was just walking out there like, ‘Wow, I’m in the WNBA,'” she said. “Warmups is different, it's not the same. I'm not with LSU, locker room's different, routine's different. But I'm good at adjusting so I feel like I'm doing pretty well. It's going fast, but I kind of operate well in chaos.”
Johnson received a warm ovation when introduced before the game, saying afterward how much that warm welcome meant — “That was cool, I've got a lot of love for the Bay, I love the Bay.” She appreciated the electric atmosphere, too.
“Hit some shots, talking to the crowd, that was fun,” she said. “Just being able to play my first, getting a little touch of the pro game, especially with my teammates, we've been playing each other and playing with guys so it felt good to play a different opponent.”
Johnson missed her initial two field-goal tries before a layup at the 8:32 mark of the second quarter. She finished with 12 points on 5-for-10 shooting in 23 minutes.
“I think she settled in really nicely and this is her first game as a pro,” coach Sonia Raman said. “So I thought she did a really good job of staying with it and really trying to focus on the defensive side of the ball every time down, and that's what we're going to keep talking about.”
Johnson was drafted No. 8 overall by the Valkyries on April 13 out of LSU, then had her rights sent to Seattle in exchange for the rights to forward Marta Suarez of TCU along with a 2028 second-round selection. Suarez was the first pick of the second round at No. 16 overall.
“It was amazing. It was a great time, highlight of my life,” Johnson said outside the Storm locker room before the game, noting she was as surprised as everybody else with the deal. “Yeah, for sure, definitely but I'm excited. I'm glad how things went.”
She has been leaning on Seattle's veteran players to become more comfortable at the next level, learning and communicating at every chance to familiarize herself with the team's system. It doesn't hurt there is a new head coach in Raman and many fresh faces, so everybody is figuring things out together.
“Very comforting because I'm used to that,” she said. “At LSU, we were building first year. (Coach Kim) Mulkey was in her first year with her group so it's definitely that same feeling. Everybody's learning each other. That's a great way to enter the group, so I'm blessed to be in that position.”
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AP WNBA: https://apnews.com/hub/wnba-basketball
Janie Mccauley, The Associated Press
