Storm Waive Draft Pick Taina Mair as Season Opener Nears
By Charles Hamaker
Seattle, WA - With their 2026 season opener just five days away, the Seattle Storm have made some progress towards completing their roster to begin the season, as the team waived rookie guard Taina Mair on Sunday, May 3rd, 2026. It’s not an entirely shocking move from the Storm, considering that there are plenty of guards that they like on the roster currently, and Mair was considered by many analysts as a reach at 14th overall. Mair did show well passing the ball in Seattle’s two preseason contests.
In the draft, Mair was ranked the ninth-best guard available and the 30th-best player overall by ESPN. A pass-first point guard for most of her collegiate career, Mair showed well this past postseason with Duke, making strides shooting and defensively. Those two aspects of her game both still need some more work, but her strong passing ability (Led the Storm in assists in both preseason games) and potential upside are likely enough to have earned her one of the two development slots.
Given how Seattle has deployed Natisha Hiedeman and Jade Melbourne like true point guards, even trying to use Zia Cooke and Lexie Brown to bring the ball up the court, Mair is facing a serious log jam in front of her for ball handling duties and her shooting ability isn’t strong enough to make her a considerable option at shooting guard.
In the limited time that media have been allowed to watch practice, Mair has struggled when we’ve been able to watch. The fast paced play that head coach Sonia Raman wants to run has forced plenty of turnovers from players all over the roster, but Mair’s stick out for someone whose passing ability is their best tool.
There is some thought that another team could claim Mair off waivers, but I’m not too sure how likely that is given the other talent around the league. Anything’s possible of course, and a team could believe they can get the most out of Mair compared to what they currently have on their roster. Now we wait to see if she does in fact clear waivers and what other moves that Seattle may make to finalize their roster for their opening game.
Where the roster stands after Mair has been waived
Point guard: Natisha Hiedeman, Jade Melbourne
Shooting guard: Flau’jae Johnson, Zia Cooke, Lexie Brown, Rennia Davis
Small forward: Jordan Horston, Katie Lou Samuelson, Jaelyn Brown
Power forward: Dominique Malonga, Awa Fam Thiam, Mackenzie Holmes, Grace VanSlooten
Center: Ezi Magbegor, Stefanie Dolson
The roster cuts made already by the Storm before Mair include guards Jalyn Brown and Elle Ladine, and forward Beatrice Mompremier.
By opening night, the Storm must cut down their roster to 12 players on the official roster and two development slots, for a total of 14. With Mair being waived, the roster currently sits at 15 players, meaning the team will have to cut at least one more player to be prepared for the opener.
The running idea for the Storm roster is that draft picks Taina Mair and Grace VanSlooten will make the two development spots, and that seems to be the most likely path for Seattle. Rennia Davis has shown well in limited minutes this preseason, but plays at a position that’s got a bit of a log jam. Fans haven’t been thrilled with Lexie Brown, for a few reasons, but the Storm staff seems to like her so it doesn’t seem like that she’ll be cut or moved for that reason plus the fact that she’s on a protected veteran contract. Seattle has the cap space to eat her contract if they want to move off her, but that doesn’t appear likely at this moment.
Jaelyn Brown was a later addition to training camp due to coming in from overseas play, and has also contributed well in the box score in the teams two preseason contests, but doesn’t seem primed to beat out any of the Seattle forwards currently on the roster. If the league had it so that players could go on an injured reserve/injured list, we may have seen the Storm carry her considering that Jordan Horston and Katie Lou Samuelson are coming off ACL injuries, but that’s not currently the case.
Instagram: @CirclingSeattleSports Twitter: @CirclingSports Threads: @CirclingSeattleSports Tiktok: @CirclingSeattleSports Facebook: Circling Seattle Sports BlueSky: @circlingseasports.bsky.social
〰️
Instagram: @CirclingSeattleSports Twitter: @CirclingSports Threads: @CirclingSeattleSports Tiktok: @CirclingSeattleSports Facebook: Circling Seattle Sports BlueSky: @circlingseasports.bsky.social 〰️
Check out our previous Seattle Storm articles here.
Check out our previous articles with writing by Charles Hamaker here.
Cover photo provided by the Seattle Storm
Support the work of Circling Seattle Sports by checking out our merchandise!