Zia Cooke remembers what it felt like to watch her WNBA career stall before it really got going. Drafted 10th overall by the Los Angeles Sparks in 2023, she walked into a franchise that was supposed to be on the rise under coach Curt Miller — the guy who turned Connecticut into a Finals regular. Instead, the Sparks went 25-55 over two years, and Cooke’s minutes shrank from 14.1 per game as a rookie to 8.9 in Year 2. She went from being a four-year starter at South Carolina to someone who couldn’t get consistent run on a losing team.
When the new Sparks front office waived her before the 2025 season, it stung. But Cooke says that moment forced her to grow up fast. “I had to be a little more mature,” she told us in an exclusive sit-down. “I had to understand those first two years were completely out of my control. So I just made sure I came in every day, worked extremely hard, and proved who I was so I’d be ready when the chance came.”
That chance arrived in Seattle. Cooke joined the Storm during training camp in 2025, made the final roster, and has quietly become a key piece ever since. There was a brief detour to Washington last season at the trade deadline — the Mystics cut her, and she landed right back in Seattle — but for the most part, the Storm has been where Cooke rebuilt her game. Two different head coaches, first Noelle Quinn and now Sonia Raman, have both made her development a priority.
“I feel like I’ve been able to showcase myself in a lot of different ways,” she said. “The coaching staff here just believed in me more. They wanted to develop me. Year by year I’m trying to show how I can grow.”
A Position Change That Actually Stuck
At South Carolina, Cooke was a shooting guard who hunted her own shot — double-figure scoring all four seasons. That didn’t translate in L.A., where she shot 30 percent from the field and 27.4 percent from three. So in Seattle, the coaching staff started transitioning her to point guard. It wasn’t an easy switch. Through her first three WNBA seasons, she averaged less than one assist per game. This year she’s at a career-best 1.0, and Raman has her running the offense more and more.
“It’s improved a lot because Sonia is actually trying to help develop me into a point guard role,” Cooke said. “I get a lot of reps there in practice, so I can find more ways to get on the floor. I’m building myself not just for this year but for next year too. I want to get real confident and not feel out of position.”
She insists the mental part of playing the 1 isn’t that hard. “It’s just about being confident in the position. Ball handling is something you have to bring, and I work on it every day. That’s naturally who I am.”
Off the ball, she’s made real strides too. Last season Cooke shot a career-best 39.5 percent from three-point range — second on the Storm among rotation players. This year her percentage dropped below 30, but she’s already taken 72 threes with half the season left, far more than the sub-70 attempts she averaged in her first three years combined. The volume alone shows how much more comfortable she is letting it fly.
“I think it’s grown a lot,” she said. “It’s all about opportunities. If I’d gotten those early in my career, I think the same results would have happened. I just wasn’t getting those opportunities, and it messed with my confidence. You can’t really play basketball when you don’t feel confident. This is the most confident I’ve played since I’ve been in the W.”
Cooke’s experience has turned her into a resource for younger players. Earlier this season, fellow Gamecock Ta’Niya Latson — struggling with inconsistent minutes in L.A. just like Cooke did — reached out for advice.
“The quicker you understand that your situation is just where you are in the moment, and you don’t let it waiver your work ethic or what you believe about yourself, the better off you’ll be,” Cooke said. “I never thought I’d come into the W and sit on the bench my first two years. But don’t stop working. Just stay prepared for your moment, and it will come.”
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