Storm Offseason Notebook: Where to find players overseas
By Christan Braswell
For most WNBA players, the season doesn’t end in late September or October. Some wish to supplement their income or simply play for the love of the game. As 2024 Olympic silver medalist Gabby Williams put it, media members and fans alike can still support them as they do so.
“For fans, if you’re able to still support us, you’re still able to watch our games, you know, a lot of us do play in other leagues. You’re going to see a lot of players in Unrivaled, you’re going to see a lot of great, great talent in Euro League. We have a lot of WNBA players going to China as well, too. You can still follow and support your favorite players throughout the year. They don’t just have to be in America for you to support them." We also have international competitions. I know we have EuroBasket coming up. There’s still plenty of ways to follow and support your favorite players.”
Williams is as right as rain. Everyone watches women’s sports and the data has shown it for quite some time.
Athletes Unlimited Pro Baskbetall, also known as AU Pro Basketball, is a women’s professional basketball league founded in the United States in 2022. For the last two seasons, the league was based in Dallas, Texas, but it will move to Nashville, Tennessee in 2025.
AU Pro Basketball’s third season in Nashville will run from Feb. 5-Mar. 2 with a 24-game, five-week campaign featuring WNBA All-Stars and world-class professional athletes. The 40-player roster, as well as the full 2025 schedule, will be announced at a later date.
Unrivaled Basketball League, known simply as Unrivaled among fans, is a professional three-on-three basketball league founded in 2023 by WNBA All-Stars Napheesa Collier and Breanna Stewart. Its inaugural season will start in Miami in January. The league will have six teams with five players on each team. As of today, 25 out of its 30 players have been announced.
For fans of Storm All-WNBA guards Skylar Diggins-Smith and Jewell Loyd, you’re in luck as both will be participating in Unrivaled in 2025. Once dates and teams are announced for Unrivaled and AU, the Storm offseason calendar will be updated accordingly.
As for the rest of the Storm players competing this WNBA offseason, here is a list as well as other W players on their teams:
Gabby Williams - Fenerbahçe
On Jul. 26, Turkish club Fenerbahçe announced they signed Williams for the upcoming 2024-25 season. She was a top scorer for Lyon ASVEL Feminin in their last season where Williams averaged 19.9 points, 6.8 rebounds, 3.9 assists, and 2.1 steals.
Fenerbahçe is set to begin play in the 2024 FIBA Women’s SuperCup, which starts on Oct. 2. The competition is contested between the winners of EuroLeague Women and the EuroCup Women, the second-tier league on the continent.
WNBA/NCAAW Teammates - Williams will have several familiar faces overseas in Istanbul:
Future Hall of Famer Tina Charles
Two-time WNBA champion and 2019 Finals MVP Emma Meesseman
Washington Mystics All-Star Ariel Atkins
Dallas Wings guard Sevgi Uzun
Former Chicago Sky guard Julie Allemand
How to Watch: The games will be live-streamed on the EuroLeague Women’s YouTube page.
Ezi Magbegor - ZVVZ USK
Storm All-Star Ezi Magbegor is set to join Czech club ZVVZ USK Praha, also known as USK Praha in November. The team was established in 1965 and plays in the Czech League, the highest level of women’s professional basketball in the Czech Republic. They also compete in the EuroLeague.
During her exit interview, Magbegor stated that she wanted time off from basketball, so she plans on reporting late. With time to herself for the first time in over a year, she plans to spend time with family and friends back home in Australia. Considering the last year she’s had that started with competing for her club for the first time in 2023, which was followed by the 2024 WNBA regular season, then the Paris Olympics, and finally the second half of the season.
WNBA Teammates - WNBA forward Isabelle Harrison, and All-Star Sun center Brionna Jones,
How to Watch: The games will be live-streamed on the EuroLeague Women’s YouTube page.
Jordan Horston - Tokomanawa Queens
It was announced on Sept. 12 that Storm forward Jordan Horston will play for the Tokomanawa Queens, a professional women’s basketball team in Wellington, New Zealand. The Queens are part of the Tauihi Basketball Aotearoa, which was established in 2022 with an initial five teams.
In April, the league changed its season window from the summer months to October through December and doubled player payments to attract the best women’s basketball players in the world.
Horston had an announcement of her own during exit interviews where her partner, former Lady Vol Tamari Key, will join the Queens, too. They were both teammates at Tennessee under former coach Kelli Harper. Key left Knoxville as the program’s all-time leader in blocks (347) and sixth all-time in SEC women’s basketball history. Her 59 field-goal percentage also puts her fifth all-time on UT’s women’s basketball career list.
WNBA/NCAAW Teammates: While Horston may be the only WNBA player on the rosterformer Louisville guard Chrislyn Carr will be on the team. Former Tar Heels guard Stephanie Watts has signed on as well.
How to Watch - Games can be streamed on FIBA’s YouTube channel, Realeague on YouTube, and a package with Sky Sports NZ. Full-game highlights and featured player performances are regularly uploaded to the Queens’ YouTube channel and the league's own channel.
Joyner Holmes - Athinaikos AS Vurona
On Jul. 14, Greek club Athinaikos AS Vurona, also known as Athinaikos, inked forward Joyner Holmes to a contract for the upcoming campaign. Athinaikos competes in the Hellenic Basketball Federation, the highest level of competition and in Greece. In her last season overseas, Holmes played for Turkish teams Botas and Kayseri.
In four games for Botas, she averaged 7.3 points and 8.8 rebounds. In the 21 games she played for Kayseri, the Dallas, Texas native averaged 12.2 points and 8.5 rebounds.
WNBA Teammates: Former Minnesota Lynx forward Jessica Shepard also plays for Athinaikos. She most recently played for Venezia in Italy where she averaged 21 points.
Games are streamed on the league’s YouTube channel.
Sami Whitcomb - Bendigo Spirit
Like her Aussie teammate Magbegor, it’s been a whirlwind of a year for Sami Whitcomb. In her last offseason, she played for the Townsville Fire in the WNBL, averaging 15.4 points and 4.5 assists, and helped lead the team to the WNBL Semi Final.
Whitcomb then returned to Seattle for the 2024 WNBA season and played for the Australia women’s national team at the Paris Olympics, helping lead the Opals to a bronze medal then rejoined the Storm for the second half of the season. Whitcomb will head back to Australia to play for the Bendigo Spirit in the WNBL.
“I’m going to go back to Australia with my family and play there,” Whitcomb said during exit interviews. “It’s always nice to just be in Australia with our family, Kate’s family in particular, my wife, so we’ll get to be with all of them, which is amazing. We haven’t really had an opportunity to sit back and reflect on the Olympics and what this year has been like. It’s been a really special year for us. The end of last year we welcomed our second son so we got to do a lot of things with him as a family of four now. So, I think all those things. We’re really looking forward to just being home in Australia and being with family. That season is a little bit less hectic for us so we get to do a little bit more stuff together.”
WNBA Teammates: On Oct. 8, the team announced that Sun guard Veronica Burton would join it once Connecticut’s playoff run ends.
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