
The Seattle Storm announced rookie guard Nika Mühl will make her WNBA debut Wednesday night against the Indiana Fever.
Seattle Storm @seattlestormIt's official! 😜 <a href="https://t.co/vdkWxHrStz">pic.twitter.com/vdkWxHrStz</a>
The second-round draft pick missed the team's first four games due to issues with her visa.
She seemingly had a good sense of humor about the situation, arriving to the game wearing a shirt with her approved visa on it:
WNBA @WNBALookin' good, feelin' better 😁 <a href="https://t.co/TkB6Ur3OUX">pic.twitter.com/TkB6Ur3OUX</a>
"The process is complete, so she will be with us tonight and have an opportunity to step on to the court," head coach Noelle Quinn said to ESPN's Kevin Pelton.
The Next's Howard Megdal reported Monday that Mühl had been approved for a P1 work visa, the absence of which had prevented her from suiting up for the Storm.
Expectations are high for the 23-year-old. In her two seasons as a regular starter at UConn, she averaged 7.0 points on 43.8 percent shooting along with 7.2 assists per game.
Seattle could desperately use Mühl's playmaking ability with the backcourt combo of Jewell Loyd and Skylar Diggins-Smith still learning how to play off one another out of the gate.
The Storm are last in assists (14.8 per game), 10th in turnovers (19.8) and last in assist rate (52.7 percent), according to WNBA.com. As much as Loyd and Diggins-Smith should be empowered to freelance and create their own shots, the offense has been far too isolation-heavy.
The fact that Loyd and Diggins-Smith have combined to shoot 28.1 percent from the floor has only exacerbated the problem.
Mühl will presumably come off the bench against the Fever given the time she has been out, and that's where her role could stay once Quinn settles on a regular rotation.
But having a true facilitator who isn't looking to score at a high volume will go some way toward ironing out Seattle's offensive woes.
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