Katie Lou Samuelson Torn ACL: Another 2025 Devastating Injury for Storm

Former UCONN Star and six-year Pro Katie Lou Samuelson suffered a torn ACL during Seattle Storm practice this past Thursday, as announced by the team on Saturday. Samuelson was going to be a veteran presence for this Storm team that has had several issues heading into this 2025 season before the injury. The Storm have had a lot of injuries to some key players in their squad this season, all three injuries are torn ACLs. Let’s dive into the impact of another torn ACL for the Seattle Storm. 

Katie Lou Samuelson’s Injury Reflection 

On Sunday, Storm head coach Noelle Quinn said the team would help Samuelson’s “journey” in recovery from the ACL injury. Quinn also talked about how she was thinking that this was going to be a great year for her, “It hurts my heart a lot because she’s just a player that I feel like this was going to be a great year for her.” Quinn said. 

Quinn also talked about how she has been performing at practice thus far this season before the injury. 

“She was having such a great camp, in great shape, her spirit was great, shooting the ball really well, and just able to plug some holes that we have. [The] deficiency from three was big, but defensively, the versatility.” Quinn said about Samuelson’s training camp before the Torn ACL. 

Samuelson averaged just 4.3 points per game on 35% shooting last year for the Fever before agreeing to the buyout of her contract. In her previous stint in Seattle in 2021, Katie Lou had some of her most consistent impact as a player, where she shot 46% from the field, averaged 7.0 points and 3.5 rebounds as a starter on that 2021 Storm team, which had a strong season with a 21-11 record. 

Final Thoughts

Samuelson was looking to have that type of resurgence in 2025, but the ACL injury puts her on the sidelines with Nika Muhl and Jordan Horston, with their torn ACLs. Seattle is dealing with the lack of depth on its roster as the team with these injuries that they currently are dealing with. The Storm are in an interesting spot heading into 2025 as a team that wanted to compete, but with these injuries, they now might turn towards 2026. But we will see how it goes for them at the start of the season.