Important Losses for the French Women’s Basketball Team
Seattle Storm players Gabby Williams and Dominique Malonga will not participate with the French national team in this summer’s EuroBasket tournament, according to an announcement on social media on Sunday.
Williams and Malonga were part of the French team that reached the final for the gold medal at the Paris Olympics, where they lost to the United States by a score of 67-66. Williams, named to the All-Star Five of the tournament and Best Defensive Player, scored 19 points and grabbed seven rebounds against the American team. She had a shot in the last second with her foot on the line, leaving France one point away from forcing overtime.
The Olympic Games were the first major international tournament for Malonga, at 18 years old. She averaged 2.8 points and 2.0 rebounds off the bench, but Malonga, selected No. 2 in last month’s WNBA draft, is considered a key piece for the future of France. She cited the importance of her rookie season for her development in the WNBA when explaining her decision to withdraw.
For Williams, this will be her first full season in the WNBA since 2022. She missed the first two months of 2023 while recovering from a serious concussion and re-signed with Seattle after the Olympics. In 12 WNBA games, she averaged 10.3 points, a career high. She also led the team with 17 points per game in the first-round playoff series against the Las Vegas Aces.
The French women’s basketball team is scheduled to begin preparations for the EuroBasket on Sunday. The tournament begins on June 18. Due to the WNBA prioritization rule, players with more than two years of experience cannot join their national teams until two weeks before the start of the EuroBasket.
France was drawn in Group A with Greece, Switzerland, and Turkey. The EuroBasket final will be played on June 29 in Greece.
Keeping Malonga and Williams throughout June is important for the Storm, who plan to start the season with 11 players on their roster due to the WNBA’s salary cap. Unless there’s a trade, one of those spots will be for forward Katie Lou Samuelson, who suffered an ACL tear during training camp and is expected to miss the entire 2025 season. That leaves Seattle with only 10 active players until the team has enough cap space to fill its 12th roster spot mid-season.
