SEATTLE — It didn’t take long for Dominique Malonga to showcase a facet of her unique skill set that made her the No. 2 overall pick in last month’s WNBA draft.

Three days after arriving from France and midway through her first workout with the Seattle Storm, the 19-year-old phenom flushed a dunk during a drill that left spectators in awe and sent a jolt through the practice facility.

“(It) kind of gave us some energy within the drill that we were doing,” coach Noelle Quinn said. “So, that was kind of selfish for me to see it for the first time live. But her ability to get downhill dribbling the basketball is going to open up a lot of those lanes for her. So, possibly we’ll see that a lot more.”

Malonga became a viral sensation last October when she dunked during a game for her French team Lyon ASVEL Féminin, and the Storm anticipate rim-rattling highlights will be an integral part of her offensive arsenal.

“You had to be there,” Quinn said smiling when asked to describe Malonga’s dunk in practice. “Our spacing and our action allows her to get downhill, and she can dunk.

“It’s not like getting the ball and barely … she’s over the rim. It was powerful. It was athletic and it was good to see.”

There have been 37 dunks in WNBA history and the 6-foot-6 Malonga will likely join an exclusive list of eight players who have thrown it down in a regular-season or All-Star game.

“I love it because I feel everybody’s hype,” she said. “I’m hyped and I feel like it’s going to give me a lot of energy to go down the court afterward. So, it’s a great feeling.”

It’s also caused a sense of trepidation around the league.

After the WNBA draft, Los Angeles Sparks forward Rickea Jackson posted a video clip of Malonga dunking with a caption that read: ‘Lord, please don’t let me be the first WNBA player to get dunk on. Amen.”

Hours later, Indiana Fever guard Sydney Colson, who is renowned for her sense of humor, reposted Jackson’s post and wrote: “Lord please let Rickea be the first WNBA player to get dunk on. Amen!”

When asked about the kerfuffle, Malonga laughed.

“I saw that something was going on, on Twitter,” she said. “I’m not really active on that, but it was funny. I’m not that kind of person who is going to say, ‘I’m going to dunk on you.’ It’s just fun for me.”

Aside from the dunk, it was a typical first day for a WNBA rookie filled with nervous anxiety, learning a new playbook and getting adjusted to new teammates while committing a handful of mistakes.

“It was great, amazing,” Malonga said. “The girls are great. The coaching staff is amazing. They really helped me to integrate fast with the team. There was a lot of information, so I got to locked in, but everybody was there to help me, so it was really great.”

Near the end of Tuesday’s practice, Malonga played with an assortment of players during a variety of lineups.

The Storm unveiled an intriguing grouping that included Malonga in the post alongside 6-4 Ezi Magbegor and 6-2 Nneka Ogwumike with 5-11 Alysha Clark in the backcourt next to point guard Erica Wheeler.

“I just threw it out there; it was kind of like a surprise,” Quinn said. “But it shows the versatility that we do have. The ability of our posts to spread the floor. Nneka is shooting the ball really well right now and what Ezi has done in the league from the three-point line and her versatility as well gives us some lineups to play with.

“It shows that we can play in a variety of different ways.”

For the moment, Quinn isn’t pushing Malonga to make an immediate impact and wants to temper expectations surrounding the team’s highest draft pick since Breanna Stewart in 2016.

“She’s young, but just super energetic and very coachable,” Quinn said when asked about Malonga’s first practice. “In our essentials this morning, she was able to get some (player development) work and some film work. All in all, for it being her first day, I thought she grasped concepts pretty quickly.

“But there’s a comfort level that she doesn’t have yet because she hasn’t been here in a week. But through that, you don’t see any bad body language. You don’t see anything but the group rallying around her and her picking herself up and trying to get it correct. So, she’s an amazing athlete. She’s a great person, and I’m just happy she’s finally here.”

Admittedly, Malonga is still a bit jet-lagged since flying to Seattle on Saturday night and still wakes up at 2 o’clock in the morning.

She’s anxious to get acclimated to Seattle and discover the city’s top attractions including the Space Needle, which she called “the Eiffel Tower of Seattle.”

“I’ve seen a really great city,” she said. “I love a water city, so I can’t wait to go by the river to see that spot.”

Notes

— Magbegor and Gabby Williams practiced for the first time Tuesday after missing the first week of training camp.

— Guard Skylar Diggins sat out a portion of Tuesday’s workout to rest, Quinn said.

— The Storm waived rookie guards Madison Conner and Jordan Hobbs, which reduces the number of players at training camp to 13. Teams must carry 11-12 players when the regular season begins.

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