They’re a losing basketball team, rebuilding around young talent and a veteran with WNBA championship experience.

We’re talking about the Seattle Storm, not the Connecticut Sun.

The Storm won a combined 22 games the past two seasons, which paid off as they won two straight draft lotteries and acquired two franchise players in Jewell Loyd and UConn icon Breanna Stewart.

Rebuilding Seattle plays the rebuilding Sun at Mohegan Sun Arena at 7 p.m. Friday.

“It’s been great,” second-year Storm coach Jenny Boucek said about rebuilding. “We’ve been a little inconsistent from game to game, which is normal with a young team. We just don’t want it to become our normal or our excuse. We've shown signs of what we can be.”

Seattle (3-5) had been one of the WNBA’s most consistent winners and was built around the unique talents of two of the greatest players in league history, Lauren Jackson and Sue Bird. The Storm picked Jackson first in 2001, and then won the inaugural draft lottery in 2002 and took Bird.

Seattle didn’t have a losing season from 2003-13 and won two championships. Its 2010 championship team won 28-regular season games, tying for the second-most in a season. Bird and current Sun forward Camille Little both started for that team.

Time finally caught up to Seattle. Jackson didn’t play last season due to injuries and retired this winter at the age of 34.

Reserve Abby Bishop and Bird are the only two players left from the Storm's 2010 team.

“I’m not going to lie — it’s been tough,” Bird said. “Losing is never fun, especially when we’ve had so much success and been at the top of the standings year in and year out. It’s the nature of the WNBA. People get older. People retire. At some point, you have to mix things up. That’s kind of how the last few years have been for us.”

The best way to build a WNBA winner is to accumulate high draft picks. There’s hitting the lottery and then there’s what Seattle did for the second time in its history — winning successive lotteries and getting great talent in Loyd and Stewart.

Loyd is shooting a ridiculous 49.1 percent and averaging 18.1 points, seventh best in the league prior to Thursday. Stewart was ninth in scoring (16.4), third in rebounding (9.9) and tied for fourth in blocks (2).

The Storm, like the Sun, have struggled with all the things that confound young teams.

“It’s understanding that you can’t relax at any point during a game, not in this league,” Bird said. “All it takes is one or two minutes and a team can go on a run. … It’s also understanding that when things are not going your way that you can’t get down. What you see with older, more experienced teams is that they have that (mental) balance. They’re constantly fighting back.”

Connecticut has the league’s worst record (1-7) and has lost six straight. A loss tonight would tie its record for longest losing streak.

The Sun, like Seattle, are young. Nine of their 12 players were 25 or under at the start of the regular season.

“I understand the comparison,” first-year Sun head coach Curt Miller said. “It’s hard (to compare) when (Seattle) may have (three of) the best players in the league at their individual position. You may have the best point guard in the entire league (Bird), arguably she is the best point guard in the world. It’s hard-pressed for our staff not to already believe that Jewell Loyd is the best two guard in the league. They’re young. … But they’re ahead of where we’re at. And that’s not even talking about what a legend (power forward) Breanna Stewart is going to be.

“What I love about Seattle is they have the best movement in the league, and you would argue at times they play the hardest. It would be a compliment if we left the game against Seattle that we looked like them because I love how hard they play.”

n.griffen@theday.com