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Noa Dalzell is a senior writer covering the WNBA and all of women’s basketball for Breakaway, SB Nation’s women’s sports vertical, as well as the Celtics for CelticsBlog.
The Seattle Storm announced today that they have signed Mackenzie Holmes, a talented center who spent training camp with the team but was waived last month.
Holmes was drafted by the Storm in the third round of the 2024 WNBA Draft and missed the subsequent season after undergoing knee surgery. She made her Seattle debut in a preseason game, in which she tallied 9 points, 8 rebounds, and 3 blocks. It was the sole preseason game Seattle participated in this past season.
Before being drafted, Holmes had a standout career at the University of Indiana, where she finished her career as the program’s all-time leading scorer (2,530), field goals made (1,043), field goal percentage (63.9), and wins (123). She earned 8 All-American selections in five years as a Hoosier, and earned unanimous All-Big Ten First Team, All-Big Ten Defensive Team, USWBA, and AP All-American selections.
Mackenzie Holmes returns to Seattle after being previously waived
On May 12th, the Storm announced they had waived Holmes alongside Brianna Fraser and Serena Sundell. But, on Saturday, the Storm granted Li Yueru’s request to be traded and therefore opened up an additional spot on their roster. At 6’3, Holmes doesn’t quite have Yueru’s height, but she helps bolster the Storm’s frontcourt and could be a reliable scorer around the rim.
Holmes is the latest player to re-sign with a team that waived them last month; on Sunday, the Golden State Valkyries announced they had signed Chloe Bibby and Kaitlyn Chen, who were both on their training camp roster. Many teams across the WNBA are temporarily signing players in the wake of their players going overseas to participate in EuroBasket, but Holmes could carve out a longer-term spot on the team considering Yueru’s permanent departure.
