This WNBA season will be a tricky one for European players. EuroBasket, the European Basketball Championship, will take place from June 18 to 29 in Brno, Bologna, Hamburg, and Piraeus. Unlike with the Olympics last season, the WNBA is not going on a break during the course of the tournament. So, European players have to decide whether they want to play the entire WNBA season or leave for a while to suit up for their national team.
Seattle Storm rookie Dominique Malonga has already made her decision. She posted it on her Instagram account, declaring that she will not be playing for the French national team this summer and will instead focus on her rookie season in the WNBA.
Malonga was the second-overall pick in the 2025 WNBA Draft and is widely expected to be one of the biggest stars to come out of this draft class. She has already made waves with a dunk during practice and has experience playing professional basketball despite being only 19 years old.
The fact that Malonga is already prioritising the WNBA so early in her career is great news for the Storm. They may have gotten a big-time franchise centerpiece in this year’s draft.
Dominique Malonga is not the only player who will miss EuroBasket
Playing for a national team is a great honor and an experience that players always cherish. When it is happening during the WNBA season, it is also a big challenge, though. Players will have to travel a lot, leave the WNBA teams they already committed to, lose time to work toward a bigger contract under the new WNBA CBA, and risk suffering injuries during the tournament.
So, Malonga’s decision is understandable. She just finished her regular season in France, flew to New York for the draft, returned to France to compete in the playoffs, and then came back to the U.S. for training camp. She has already had a tumultuous couple of weeks.
Malonga is not the only player to announce that they will not be competing in EuroBasket either. Satou Sabally, the face of women’s basketball in Germany, will not be suiting up for her national team either to focus on her new role with the Phoenix Mercury.
Malonga’s teammate Gabby Williams also won’t suit up for the French national team in June. France has one of the strongest women’s basketball teams in the world. They won silver at the 2024 Paris Olympics, almost edging out Team USA in the gold medal game. Williams scored 19 points in France’s 66-67 loss to the U.S. and was her team’s main source of offense. Youngster Malonga only played around two minutes in that game, but should be a key piece of the French national team in the future.