Storm’s French Stars Won’t Participate in the 2025 Eurobasket Tournament

Seattle Storm wing Gabby Williams and rookie center Domnique Malonga announced they will not participate with the French National Team in the 2025 EuroBasket Tournament on their social media pages this past Sunday. Both players were a part of France’s silver medal squad in the 2024 Paris Olympics. Williams was the star, and Malonga was a rotational player on that team. Here are the repercussions of their decisions to miss the Eurobasket.

The two French Stars Will See Heavy Minutes this season in Seattle 

Both French players will be a key part of the rotation for Seattle, which will most likely only have 10 active players, thanks to Katie Lou Samuelson’s ACL injury a week ago, along with other injuries to their rotation in the offseason. So the Storm needs these two ladies badly to play through the summer months in Seattle instead of overseas. 

Malonga said in her Sunday announcement: It was a difficult decision because the French Jersey is important to me,” Malonga said on Monday. “I have decided to stay here [with the Storm] because I think my rookie season is really important and I wanted to leave it all with the team.” Strong sentiments from the rookie in a tough decision, but she understands the impact on the development of her rookie season. Meanwhile, this will be her first full season since 2022, now after the decision not to play for France.

Final Thoughts

So starting on June 18th, the French will be without two of the team’s most talented players for their EuroBasket 2025 campaign. Williams and Malonga will be strong members of the French National Team for years, but this tournament wasn’t the right opportunity for these two WNBA Players at this time. Total Apex Sports will have more WNBA stories throughout the season as the season starts this weekend.