July 16, 2026 • 10 mins
Flau’jae Johnson, who was drafted eighth overall in the most recent WNBA draft, and then instantly traded to the Seattle Storm, joins Dick Fain to talk about her rookie year so far with Seattle, the pro-level adjustment, the WNBA’s growth, and their young team.
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Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
I was a rushed shot in great defense, Guy Seattle
tick three. There it is Blache Johnson twenty five points
on the game and the Storm are knocking on the door.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Oh.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
An amazing highlight from yesterday's game. Flasee Johnson just continues
an unbelievable rookie season. On Monday, she had a career
high four steals, and then yesterday twenty five point six rebounds,
four assists, and she joins us here on ninety three
point three KJRFM.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Flase how are you?
Speaker 3 (00:34):
I'm doing good. I'm doing good.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
You know, You've been amazing to watch on the floor.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
And the thing that just really comes out and is
obvious to me, and it's obvious to everyone who watches
you play basketball. Your energy and love for the game
are maybe unmatched in this league. I'm not even I'm
not even joking. I mean you are a joy to watch,
not only because you're a great talent, but you play
with that joy. You get me hyped on the call
(00:59):
as you can tell there. Where does that joy come from?
How long have you played like that?
Speaker 3 (01:06):
Yeah? I think just you know, just going out there
and having fun. I think just knowing that my energy
is big on the court, and you need that kind
of energy, especially like when you're defending best players in
the world every night, night in and night out, you
got to have that kind of energy. So I don't know,
I just take pride in doing that for the team.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
Is that the toughest adjustment to the league is knowing
that each night you're literally guarding one of the best
players in the world at your position.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
Whereas when you were.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
In college, yes, you guarded really good players, but you
also had some nights that you could kind of take
off defensively a little bit because you didn't have a
great player going against you.
Speaker 3 (01:43):
No, literally, And that's what I take a lot of
pride in on the defensive end, just knowing taking that
challenge like y'all can guard you, know what I'm saying,
the best player of the other team. So I think
taking that pride and doing that is something that I've
been doing since like the start of the season and
the match up like griding you know, Page Beckers and
wanting to match up with like Jackie Young and all
(02:05):
of those great players. I feel like I take pride
in doing that.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
You got another one coming up that we'll talk about
in a little bit coming up tomorrow night. But this
is the longest road trip of your career. It's finally
over tomorrow. I mean this has been a five game
road trip taking over like two weeks. You don't go
through that at LSU. You don't have five game road
trips for two weeks. So how have you been able
to keep your energy up and you know, just keep
(02:28):
that passion for the game up when you're away from
home so long?
Speaker 3 (02:32):
No, it's been Oh, it's been very long, but I'm
not gonna lie. It's been fun. Like it's been like
like fun, like wow, like I'm really a professional. I
get to travel all these places you feel. I mean,
we get private flight, we don got to go through
tsa five star hotels, Like I ain't mad. I make
sure every three that I go to. I got a
gym to go shoot in in the morning, and I'm
good to go. So I think for me it was
(02:53):
about like preparing for this road trip, like how can
I stand on my routine and stay consistent? You know
what I'm saying, That's my word is just consistency, consistency, consistency.
So I think it's been so fun, like I've got
to explore city, different culture, like it's been super cool.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
Storm rookie star Flagia Johnson joining us on ninety three
point three KJRFM. For those that haven't seen her play,
give you some insight to what she's doing. Fourth in
scoring for a rookie and Storm history at twelve points
per game, and the Storm have had some pretty dang
actually said thirteen points a game now, Storm.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
Have had some pretty dang good rookies.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
Second rookie in Storm history to average twelve points and
five rebounds through the first twenty five games of her career.
The only one other to do that is Brianna Stewart.
She has had an unbelievable rookie season. And you talk
about going on the road, but it almost it must
almost seem like home too, because you have so many
fans in every arena because you got one one point
(03:46):
five million dollars or a million Instagram followers because of
your rap career and your basketball career. So do you
do you kind of feel a little bit like a
rock star when you go out on the road.
Speaker 3 (03:58):
Definitely, I definitely feel in love. I'm blessed, you know,
to be able to go to arenas and people who
have made signs and they've made shirts and they've you know,
spent their time and their money to come, you know,
see me, And I didn't mean so much to me,
Like they kind of called my name super fast, like
when they do our uh when they do our player
introduction because they know the crowd goes third up. But
(04:21):
it's just very fun like the flock. You know what
I'm saying, My fan based the flock. I love them.
They followed me everywhere. You know what I'm saying. They
show love. So shout out to the fans that's always
showing up. Man.
Speaker 1 (04:31):
You went off last week for twenty three in a
storm win in La. You scored the first thirteen points
of the game.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
KD was in the house.
Speaker 1 (04:41):
Was that a little I mentioned on the broadcast? I
was like, that might be a little extra motivation for
flaj Ac.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
You spent a bunch of time with them after the game.
So what type of motivation was Kevin Durant for you?
Sitting in the front row.
Speaker 3 (04:53):
It was crazy. I didn't even see KD until like
after I hit the thirteen points and I was like, KD,
bring up, So yeah, I started sitting a little bit.
I was like, oh yeah, I'm about to shoot that
again like KD and the building is up.
Speaker 2 (05:08):
That is awesome.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
What are you to attribute the rise of popularity to
women's basketball too, because I mean, over the last two or.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
Three years, it has just absolutely gone through the roof.
Speaker 3 (05:19):
Man. I think it's just amazing basketball. I think we
now have like superstars in this league and stars and
their own right, and I just think, you know, I
like to say, like I got to see that emergence happen,
like during the tweeny twenty three college basketball season. That's
when everything kind of like erupted for women's college basketball.
(05:39):
And I think it just went to the pros as
the stars going and I think it's been crazy and
you would think, like, nah, it's just like they're just
having a moment, But it's not a moment, Like it's
a real movement. Everywhere. Every time we go play, an
arena is sold out, like you know what I mean.
So I think it's important for us to keep going
to game for it respect in the past and just
(06:00):
kind of imburse in the future with it.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
Johnson joined us.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
You know, I followed the WNBA on a daily basis,
but a lot of my listeners on the radio show, don't.
I mean, they're just sports radio listeners. They know certain
WNBA names, and certainly one of the names that they
know is Kaitlyn Clark, who you're taking on tomorrow. You
mentioned guarding the likes of Paige Becker's and you know,
Jackie Young and.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
Some of those players.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
How much you know some people will say, hey, it's
a result the rise of women's college back or women's
basketball's result of Caitlyn Clark.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
How accurate do you think that assessment is? Oh?
Speaker 3 (06:33):
Yeah, I can agree to that. I could just say
she brought a lot of eyes to women's basketball, But
you gotta think we gotta think about the legends that
kind of built it, you know what I mean. You
gotta think about the legends that built it, you know.
So I think, of course, like she her popularity has
definitely helped, but there's a lot of superstars that are
attributed to that, and I think I think it's gonna
(06:53):
be more. I think when Juju comes out of college,
it's gonna bring away like that as well. So I
don't know, I think she definitely, she definitely to contribute,
though for sure, you.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
Guys have the youngest starting five in the WNBA. How
exciting is that now I know the wins. The wins
aren't coming in year number one so far, but this
was kind of a reset type season to build what
the future was gonna look like. How exciting is that
when you look at players like Awa Farm and Don
Maloga and you still have Zie in her prime and
(07:22):
what Tea is doing at the point guard position.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
Just talk about the youth and what you think the
Seattle Storm could be in a year or two.
Speaker 3 (07:30):
I think we could be amazing. I think everybody sees.
I think everybody sees like the spurts of it, you
know what I'm saying, when we put it all together.
I think they see when it's really good and it's like, wow,
these girls are unbelievable. And I think people can see like, Okay,
they're still really young, you know what I mean, And
some of the decisions we make and some of the
things we do. But it's gonna take you just a
little bit of chemistry learning to play together. You know.
(07:51):
You know I would speak Spend as Don Street speaks French.
You know, it's a little bit of language barrier. So
I think now like just learning each other and knowing
like where they want to go, knowing like how they
want the ball, when they want the ball, and that
stuff you only can learn through repetition and practice. And
so I think the off season is going to be
real big for us, but also just just these games
we're playing together, but we're trying to win. We all competitors.
(08:13):
We ain't finished. Sit here and just be like, yeah,
we know it's a new year, new team, new coach,
new everything, we rebuilding, but let's go win. So I
played this second half of the season like that's what
our mind on.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
Yeah, you got about twenty games left or so, So
what are the goals for the rest of the year
for you individually?
Speaker 2 (08:29):
I mean, you're you're a lock for the All Rookie team.
Let's forget about that. I mean, you're going to get
on the All Rookie team.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
But what are the goals for you individually and also
as a team down the stretch.
Speaker 3 (08:37):
Here, I'm trying to get on that defensive team, like
I told you earlier, Like, okay, I take pride and garden. Yeah,
in fact, I take pride and guarding the best players.
Every night I had a career high and still the
other night I'm like I can do a little bit
more of that. My blocks have been crazy, you know,
and just all just being when I'm on the court,
Like I feel like I can cause and rehab it overall.
(08:59):
So I think, uh, the defensive team is something that
I want to I want to advocate to. Yeah, because
that's something I really take product. I'm really good at it.
Like I feel like, shoot, I'm I'm one thing about me.
I'm gonna take that challenge and I'm gonna I'm gonna
take it personal. So yeah, that's something I'm looking forward to.
But also double digit wins man, Like, Okay, double digit wins, bro,
(09:20):
we got we gotta get some more wins. So that's
something I'm pushing for.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
I like that. Hey, before we let you go, most
important question? What song?
Speaker 1 (09:27):
If somebody has never heard a Flage Johnson rap, what
song do they need to download?
Speaker 3 (09:37):
Go ahead, download on the Way on the Way. It's
on my R and B project. It's called Flaw and B.
But that song is called on the Way.
Speaker 1 (09:45):
Okay, I'm gonna do it right now. Hey, we appreciate
it so much. Can't wait to see you when you
get back to Climbate Pledge. Thanks for joining me.
Speaker 3 (09:52):
Appreciated man, See you soon, you bet.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
Flaje Johnson just absolutely unbelievables you can tell, unbelievable personality
and a great eight basketball player.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
We'll come back with more on ninety three point three KJRFM.
I was a rushed shot in great defense, Guy Seattle
tick three. There it is Blache Johnson twenty five points
on the game and the Storm are knocking on the door.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Oh.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
An amazing highlight from yesterday's game. Flasee Johnson just continues
an unbelievable rookie season. On Monday, she had a career
high four steals, and then yesterday twenty five point six rebounds,
four assists, and she joins us here on ninety three
point three KJRFM.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Flase how are you?
Speaker 3 (00:34):
I'm doing good. I'm doing good.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
You know, You've been amazing to watch on the floor.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
And the thing that just really comes out and is
obvious to me, and it's obvious to everyone who watches
you play basketball. Your energy and love for the game
are maybe unmatched in this league. I'm not even I'm
not even joking. I mean you are a joy to watch,
not only because you're a great talent, but you play
with that joy. You get me hyped on the call
(00:59):
as you can tell there. Where does that joy come from?
How long have you played like that?
Speaker 3 (01:06):
Yeah? I think just you know, just going out there
and having fun. I think just knowing that my energy
is big on the court, and you need that kind
of energy, especially like when you're defending best players in
the world every night, night in and night out, you
got to have that kind of energy. So I don't know,
I just take pride in doing that for the team.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
Is that the toughest adjustment to the league is knowing
that each night you're literally guarding one of the best
players in the world at your position.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
Whereas when you were.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
In college, yes, you guarded really good players, but you
also had some nights that you could kind of take
off defensively a little bit because you didn't have a
great player going against you.
Speaker 3 (01:43):
No, literally, And that's what I take a lot of
pride in on the defensive end, just knowing taking that
challenge like y'all can guard you, know what I'm saying,
the best player of the other team. So I think
taking that pride and doing that is something that I've
been doing since like the start of the season and
the match up like griding you know, Page Beckers and
wanting to match up with like Jackie Young and all
(02:05):
of those great players. I feel like I take pride
in doing that.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
You got another one coming up that we'll talk about
in a little bit coming up tomorrow night. But this
is the longest road trip of your career. It's finally
over tomorrow. I mean this has been a five game
road trip taking over like two weeks. You don't go
through that at LSU. You don't have five game road
trips for two weeks. So how have you been able
to keep your energy up and you know, just keep
(02:28):
that passion for the game up when you're away from
home so long?
Speaker 3 (02:32):
No, it's been Oh, it's been very long, but I'm
not gonna lie. It's been fun. Like it's been like
like fun, like wow, like I'm really a professional. I
get to travel all these places you feel. I mean,
we get private flight, we don got to go through
tsa five star hotels, Like I ain't mad. I make
sure every three that I go to. I got a
gym to go shoot in in the morning, and I'm
good to go. So I think for me it was
(02:53):
about like preparing for this road trip, like how can
I stand on my routine and stay consistent? You know
what I'm saying, That's my word is just consistency, consistency, consistency.
So I think it's been so fun, like I've got
to explore city, different culture, like it's been super cool.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
Storm rookie star Flagia Johnson joining us on ninety three
point three KJRFM. For those that haven't seen her play,
give you some insight to what she's doing. Fourth in
scoring for a rookie and Storm history at twelve points
per game, and the Storm have had some pretty dang
actually said thirteen points a game now, Storm.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
Have had some pretty dang good rookies.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
Second rookie in Storm history to average twelve points and
five rebounds through the first twenty five games of her career.
The only one other to do that is Brianna Stewart.
She has had an unbelievable rookie season. And you talk
about going on the road, but it almost it must
almost seem like home too, because you have so many
fans in every arena because you got one one point
(03:46):
five million dollars or a million Instagram followers because of
your rap career and your basketball career. So do you
do you kind of feel a little bit like a
rock star when you go out on the road.
Speaker 3 (03:58):
Definitely, I definitely feel in love. I'm blessed, you know,
to be able to go to arenas and people who
have made signs and they've made shirts and they've you know,
spent their time and their money to come, you know,
see me, And I didn't mean so much to me,
Like they kind of called my name super fast, like
when they do our uh when they do our player
introduction because they know the crowd goes third up. But
(04:21):
it's just very fun like the flock. You know what
I'm saying, My fan based the flock. I love them.
They followed me everywhere. You know what I'm saying. They
show love. So shout out to the fans that's always
showing up. Man.
Speaker 1 (04:31):
You went off last week for twenty three in a
storm win in La. You scored the first thirteen points
of the game.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
KD was in the house.
Speaker 1 (04:41):
Was that a little I mentioned on the broadcast? I
was like, that might be a little extra motivation for
flaj Ac.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
You spent a bunch of time with them after the game.
So what type of motivation was Kevin Durant for you?
Sitting in the front row.
Speaker 3 (04:53):
It was crazy. I didn't even see KD until like
after I hit the thirteen points and I was like, KD,
bring up, So yeah, I started sitting a little bit.
I was like, oh yeah, I'm about to shoot that
again like KD and the building is up.
Speaker 2 (05:08):
That is awesome.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
What are you to attribute the rise of popularity to
women's basketball too, because I mean, over the last two or.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
Three years, it has just absolutely gone through the roof.
Speaker 3 (05:19):
Man. I think it's just amazing basketball. I think we
now have like superstars in this league and stars and
their own right, and I just think, you know, I
like to say, like I got to see that emergence happen,
like during the tweeny twenty three college basketball season. That's
when everything kind of like erupted for women's college basketball.
(05:39):
And I think it just went to the pros as
the stars going and I think it's been crazy and
you would think, like, nah, it's just like they're just
having a moment, But it's not a moment, Like it's
a real movement. Everywhere. Every time we go play, an
arena is sold out, like you know what I mean.
So I think it's important for us to keep going
to game for it respect in the past and just
(06:00):
kind of imburse in the future with it.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
Johnson joined us.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
You know, I followed the WNBA on a daily basis,
but a lot of my listeners on the radio show, don't.
I mean, they're just sports radio listeners. They know certain
WNBA names, and certainly one of the names that they
know is Kaitlyn Clark, who you're taking on tomorrow. You
mentioned guarding the likes of Paige Becker's and you know,
Jackie Young and.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
Some of those players.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
How much you know some people will say, hey, it's
a result the rise of women's college back or women's
basketball's result of Caitlyn Clark.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
How accurate do you think that assessment is? Oh?
Speaker 3 (06:33):
Yeah, I can agree to that. I could just say
she brought a lot of eyes to women's basketball, But
you gotta think we gotta think about the legends that
kind of built it, you know what I mean. You
gotta think about the legends that built it, you know.
So I think, of course, like she her popularity has
definitely helped, but there's a lot of superstars that are
attributed to that, and I think I think it's gonna
(06:53):
be more. I think when Juju comes out of college,
it's gonna bring away like that as well. So I
don't know, I think she definitely, she definitely to contribute,
though for sure, you.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
Guys have the youngest starting five in the WNBA. How
exciting is that now I know the wins. The wins
aren't coming in year number one so far, but this
was kind of a reset type season to build what
the future was gonna look like. How exciting is that
when you look at players like Awa Farm and Don
Maloga and you still have Zie in her prime and
(07:22):
what Tea is doing at the point guard position.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
Just talk about the youth and what you think the
Seattle Storm could be in a year or two.
Speaker 3 (07:30):
I think we could be amazing. I think everybody sees.
I think everybody sees like the spurts of it, you
know what I'm saying, when we put it all together.
I think they see when it's really good and it's like, wow,
these girls are unbelievable. And I think people can see like, Okay,
they're still really young, you know what I mean, And
some of the decisions we make and some of the
things we do. But it's gonna take you just a
little bit of chemistry learning to play together. You know.
(07:51):
You know I would speak Spend as Don Street speaks French.
You know, it's a little bit of language barrier. So
I think now like just learning each other and knowing
like where they want to go, knowing like how they
want the ball, when they want the ball, and that
stuff you only can learn through repetition and practice. And
so I think the off season is going to be
real big for us, but also just just these games
we're playing together, but we're trying to win. We all competitors.
(08:13):
We ain't finished. Sit here and just be like, yeah,
we know it's a new year, new team, new coach,
new everything, we rebuilding, but let's go win. So I
played this second half of the season like that's what
our mind on.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
Yeah, you got about twenty games left or so, So
what are the goals for the rest of the year
for you individually?
Speaker 2 (08:29):
I mean, you're you're a lock for the All Rookie team.
Let's forget about that. I mean, you're going to get
on the All Rookie team.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
But what are the goals for you individually and also
as a team down the stretch.
Speaker 3 (08:37):
Here, I'm trying to get on that defensive team, like
I told you earlier, Like, okay, I take pride and garden. Yeah,
in fact, I take pride and guarding the best players.
Every night I had a career high and still the
other night I'm like I can do a little bit
more of that. My blocks have been crazy, you know,
and just all just being when I'm on the court,
Like I feel like I can cause and rehab it overall.
(08:59):
So I think, uh, the defensive team is something that
I want to I want to advocate to. Yeah, because
that's something I really take product. I'm really good at it.
Like I feel like, shoot, I'm I'm one thing about me.
I'm gonna take that challenge and I'm gonna I'm gonna
take it personal. So yeah, that's something I'm looking forward to.
But also double digit wins man, Like, Okay, double digit wins, bro,
(09:20):
we got we gotta get some more wins. So that's
something I'm pushing for.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
I like that. Hey, before we let you go, most
important question? What song?
Speaker 1 (09:27):
If somebody has never heard a Flage Johnson rap, what
song do they need to download?
Speaker 3 (09:37):
Go ahead, download on the Way on the Way. It's
on my R and B project. It's called Flaw and B.
But that song is called on the Way.
Speaker 1 (09:45):
Okay, I'm gonna do it right now. Hey, we appreciate
it so much. Can't wait to see you when you
get back to Climbate Pledge. Thanks for joining me.
Speaker 3 (09:52):
Appreciated man, See you soon, you bet.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
Flaje Johnson just absolutely unbelievables you can tell, unbelievable personality
and a great eight basketball player.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
We'll come back with more on ninety three point three KJRFM.
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