Jewell Loyd’s favorite movie is ‘‘The Godfather.’’
Growing up in Lincolnwood, the Loyd family watched it religiously. The Seattle Storm guard always felt a strong connection to one of the film’s main characters — Michael Corleone.
Certainly not because of his cunning criminal conduct. But his business acumen and the way he prioritized family above all else always resonated with Loyd.
“[Corleone] gets an opportunity as a younger sibling to grow and build the family up to its stature,” Jarryd Loyd, Jewell’s brother, said. “That’s what Jewell has represented for our family, as well.”
Jarryd had a basketball career of his own, but Jewell topped it by becoming the No. 1 overall draft pick in 2015, an Olympic gold medalist, a two-time WNBA champion, a five-time All-Star and the 2015 Rookie of the Year.
In 2023, Loyd led the league in scoring, averaging 24.7 points, and set the WNBA’s single-season points record, finishing with 939. Now Loyd finds herself at the center of the Storm’s future. To comprehend how she’ll lead the franchise successfully, understanding her character is required.
Loyd has been playing in the WNBA since she was around 14. While obviously not on any roster, she served as a practice player during Pokey Chatman’s tenure as the Sky’s coach and general manager. It was the same summer she began playing three levels above her own on the Chicago-area AAU circuit.
It was Jarryd who helped introduce his younger sister to Chatman and the WNBA. What started out as a little sister accompanying her big brother to practice — he was the first Loyd to serve as one of Chatman’s practice players — turned into the beginning of her future career.
Most coaches, Jarryd thought, would find it unacceptable to have a young kid hanging around practice. Chatman, he said, embraced Loyd from the outset.
“What stood out for me,” Chatman said, “was her ability to move without the basketball and still be impactful. Those alley-oops everyone saw at Notre Dame, I saw them in high school when she was practicing against us.”
In three seasons at Notre Dame, Loyd averaged 17 points, 5.7 rebounds and 2.4 assists. She was a two-time AP All-American, the 2014-15 ACC Player of the Year and the AP Player of the Year and Wooden Award runner-up in her final college season. Her future teammate, Breanna Stewart, won both in 2015.
Despite Loyd’s dominance, her time in South Bend was one of the most challenging periods of her life.
The diversity Loyd was surrounded by growing up in the Chicago area was absent when she got to Notre Dame. She quickly found herself more comfortable being isolated from the “typical” college experience.
“You look at my college career, it was phenomenal,” Loyd said. “Everything but a national championship. But I wasn’t happy there. I wasn’t myself.”
After every season, Loyd said, she would call her mom, imploring her for a transfer. Every year, she was dissuaded by the idea of sitting out a year.
In reflecting on her time at Notre Dame, Loyd shared that it was the first time in her life she experienced anxiety and depression. She had difficulty opening up to her parents about how she was truly feeling. Years later, they questioned why she didn’t come to them.
Because, she thought, “I’ll figure it out myself.”
She learned the extent of her strength and when to ask for help. Loyd’s “saving grace,” she said, was teammate and friend Natalie Achonwa.
“Her impact, making sure I had someone to talk to, cooking for me, providing me a safe space was like heaven,” Loyd said. “Seeing that, if someone is ever in that space, I can provide that service because I know how it feels.”
When she was deciding whether to declare for the WNBA Draft, Loyd called a friend and longtime trainer. She remembers him asking two succinct questions.
“Are you happy?”
No, was Loyd’s answer.
“Do you think you can make it?”
Yes, was her resounding response.
He hung up.
She thought, “Is it really that simple?”
Then she had another thought: “Seattle needs a guard.”
This season will be Loyd’s 10th in the league.
In that time, she has gone from a highly touted rookie, expected to help bring the Storm back to the championship mountaintop, to the face of the franchise.
Loyd’s nine previous seasons with the Storm have been filled with nearly every peak and valley a professional athlete can face. She won two titles alongside arguably the best point guard in WNBA history, Sue Bird, and a two-time MVP in Stewart.
At the tail end of the 2022 season, Bird’s last in the league, Loyd felt a shift.
The locker room after the Las Vegas Aces beat the Storm in the semifinals in 2022 is still vivid to Loyd. As she looked around at the emotions on everyone’s faces, reality hit.
“I saw Sue, Stewie, and I thought, ‘Ya. This is the end of our group,’ ” Loyd said. “You could feel it. We were holding on for so long.”
In 2023, Loyd was the last of the Storm’s big three left standing after Bird retired and Stewart signed with the Liberty as a free agent. The year was challenging for the franchise and personally for Loyd as the Storm went 11-29.
Loyd was reaching career milestones, but the team hadn’t struggled that badly since her rookie season, when it finished 10-24. It tested her leadership abilities, but Loyd was prepared. She knew when to apply pressure to her teammates and when to be a soft place to land. Her own work ethic always spoke volumes.
During the Storm’s struggles, there were whispers about where Loyd would end up as an unrestricted free agent the following January. Some speculation included Loyd considering signing with the Sky.
Loyd’s love for her hometown is epitomized by the fact she bought a house down the street from her parents, is the owner of a Smoothie King in Skokie and spends her offseasons training in Chicago. But when it comes to business, it has to be an offer she can’t refuse.
The Sky, put plainly, weren’t ready for Loyd.
“For me, and I think for the whole league, we’re waiting for Chicago to do the right things,” Loyd said. “We’re waiting for Chicago to step up.”
As it turns out, no team would have an opportunity to pitch Loyd as a free agent.
Despite the valleys of the Storm’s 2023 season, Loyd could still see the mountaintop. After some serious discussions with ownership, Chatman and other top executives and coach Noelle Quinn, Loyd was sold on the franchise’s direction.
On Sept. 9, she signed a two-year contract extension, keeping her in Seattle through the 2025 season.
Loyd’s extension news had a ripple effect that carried into free agency four months later. When top free agents Skylar Diggins-Smith and Nneka Ogwumike signed with the Storm, they cited the opportunity to play with Loyd as their top reason.
“She was part of it through the down, the success and now the different,” Quinn said. “The fact that she has had all those reps in those different eras of the organization matters.
“For her to hold that torch. She’s the connector. She’s why people want to come here.”
Less than 24 hours after landing back in the city following a two-day camp with USA Basketball — she is a lock for the 2024 Olympic roster — Loyd is back on her grind.
Her day starts at her Smoothie King, which includes check-ins with her employees and a survey of the store’s stock. She’s very involved in the day-to-day, which lessens slightly once the season starts.
After handling business, she drives about 10 miles to handle more, but this time, it’s on the basketball court.
As she walks into a quiet local gym in one of Chicago’s northern suburbs, she’s immediately recognized by the high school players on their way out.
“Hey, Jewell!”
“What’s up, Jewell!”
She smiles and nods as she replies, “What’s up, guys.”
Inside the gym, Loyd slips on a blue pair of sneakers before getting shots up with one of her longtime trainers, Montay Robinson.
At one point during her workout, Loyd stood hunched at the top of the key. The ball was in Robinson’s hands, and hers were on her knees.
There was no relaxation in Loyd’s demeanor. She held that stance for a split second, almost as a portent of what would come next. She was assessing the landscape in front of her. Figuring out what way she was about to attack her imaginary opponent and the best way to go about doing it.
As Chatman witnessed from Loyd during those practices she spent going up against WNBA veterans as a high schooler, she has always known how to operate without the ball in her hands.
Off the court, Loyd has strategically assessed the landscape of her life and made calculated business decisions. She has attacked when necessary, passed when required and always made the smartest decision for her and her family.
In this moment, as the player tasked with leading a franchise on the heels of one of the greatest players of all time, Loyd doesn’t feel pressure.
Why would she when she has been deliberately evaluating the terrain for nine seasons?
Last season was about maintaining a growth mindset, even in defeat. The 2024 season is hers to attack as the face of the franchise that took all the right steps to keep her. All she needed was a lob pass at the rim.
“I had the privilege of seeing what leadership looks like, what giving back to Seattle looks like,” Loyd said. “Now I know my way is different, but it stems from the same pillars.”
