Seattle Storm vs Phoenix Mercury Prediction 5/17/25 WNBA Picks

The Seattle Storm and the Phoenix Mercury meet Saturday in WNBA action from the Footprint Center. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best bets for this game. Here’s a Seattle Storm vs. Phoenix Mercury prediction.

Seattle Storm Team Preview

The Seattle Storm come into the 2025 season looking to keep things on the up and up after a decent 2024 season, finishing the year with a 25-15 overall record which was good enough for the 5-seed and their 8th playoff berth in the last nine seasons. Seattle’s stay in the postseason was brief though, as the Storm were swept by the Las Vegas Aces in the first round. The big difference from 2024’s squad is Jewell Loyd, who was the WNBA’s scoring leader in 2024 and still put up 19.7 PPG last season, and is now a Las Vegas Ace. That being said, there’s still some solid depth for the Storm, led by Nneka Ogwumike and Skylar Diggins as well as Ezi Magbegor. The Storm still have solid rotation pieces like Gabby Williams, Jordan Horston and Nika Muhl all back and expected to take on bigger roles, while Lexie Brown comes over from L.A., Alysha Clark from Las Vegas and Katie Lou Samuelson and Erica Wheeler from Indiana to bring depth to the Storm’s bench. The Storm have a strong group of returning pieces and have a rare trait in 2025, returning continuity at head coach with Noelle Quinn. Only time will tell if the Storm can get back to the peak of the WNBA.

Phoenix Mercury Team Preview

The Phoenix Mercury come into the 2025 season looking to bounce back from an up and down 2024 season in which the Mercury finished the year at 19-21 overall which earned Phoenix the 7-seed in the WNBA playoffs. Phoenix would be swept by the eventual WNBA champion Minnesota Lynx in the first round of the playoffs, ending their season. Nate Tibbetts took the reins at head coach in year one last year and doubled the Mercury’s win total, but now it’s a completely new look Mercury team with the exception of returning all-star Kahleah Copper and rotation player Celeste Taylor. The Mercury don’t have the luxury of Brittney Griner or Diana Taurasi anymore, with Griner in Atlanta and Taurasi hanging them up after a stellar 20-year career, all in Phoenix. The Mercury traded away Sophie Cunningham to Indiana, but brought in some solid scoring depth in Alyssa Thomas from Connecticut and Satou Sabally from Dallas. Thomas is a triple-double threat anytime she takes the floor and is always in the conversation for MVP and Sabally averaged 15.7 PPG last year and was the WNBA most improved player in 2023. The Mercury have a strong collection of pieces, it’s just a matter of how quickly this team can put it all together to try to get back to the postseason.

Seattle Storm vs. Phoenix Mercury Prediction

I’m on the under in this game. It sucks for Phoenix not having Kahleah Copper for the opener as she’s dealing with a back injury and that’s going to hamper the Mercury as she was the one sure thing it felt like for Phoenix. Not to say Phoenix doesn’t have good pieces, but it might still take this team some time to become cohesive early on. On the other side, I need to see how the Storm get along without Loyd before I trust this team laying points on the road as they were just 4-7 ATS as a road favorite last year. Give me the under in this one.

Chris Ruffolo's Pick: Under 158