Gabby Williams and Dominique Malonga miss EuroBasket with France
Seattle Storm forward Gabby Williams and rookie center 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 fell to the United States by 67-66. Williams, included in the Ideal Quintet and Defensive Player of the tournament, scored 19 points and grabbed seven rebounds against Team USA. She made a shot at the buzzer with her foot on the 3-point line, leaving France one point away from forcing overtime.
The Olympic Games were Malonga’s first major international tournament, at 18 years old. She averaged 2.8 points and 2.0 rebounds off the bench, but Malonga, selected 2nd overall by the Storm in last month’s WNBA draft, is considered a key piece for France’s future.
“It was a difficult decision because the France jersey is very important to me. I decided to stay here [with the Storm] because I think my rookie season is very important and I wanted to give it my all with the team.”
Dominique Malonga
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 a career-best 10.3 points. She also led the team with 17 points per game in the first-round playoff series against the Las Vegas Aces.
The French national team is scheduled to begin preparations for the EuroBasket on Sunday, according to Le Parisien. The tournament will begin on June 18.
France was drawn in Group A with Greece, Switzerland, and Turkey. The EuroBasket final will be played on June 29 in Greece.
The presence of Malonga and Williams during the month of June is important for the Storm, who plan to start the season with 11 players on their roster due to the WNBA salary cap. Barring a trade, one of those spots will be for forward Katie Lou Samuelson, who suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament 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 salary cap space to fill its 12th roster spot mid-season.
