Gabby Williams, first Frenchwoman selected for the WNBA All-Star Game

She had a sparkling Olympic Games at home, pushing the American "Invincibles" to their limits in the final of the Paris 2024 women's basketball tournament – ​​the Blues fell just one point behind Team USA (66-67) . Gabby Williams continued her momentum, signing a full season – voted best French player, men and women combined, of the year 2024 –, and became, on Sunday July 6, the first Frenchwoman selected to the WNBA All-Star Game. Not selected among the starters, the French forward of the Seattle Storm will be among the substitutes of this ball bringing together the best players of the major North American basketball league, on July 19 in Indianapolis (Indiana, United States).

At 28, the Franco-American player, who won Olympic silver in Paris after winning bronze at Tokyo 2021, had chosen, like other teammates in the French jersey, to skip Euro 2025 in favor of her WNBA season, whose schedule overlaps with international competitions. With 13.3 points, 4.7 assists, 4.7 rebounds, and 2.6 steals—a league-best total—averaging per game, Gabby Williams is off to a flying start and leading the Washington State franchise (northwestern United States) to the playoffs. With 11 wins in 18 games, the Storm sits third in the Western Conference.

In a league where only three French women have won a title, and without playing a leading role, the former star of the University of Connecticut (Uconn) – a stronghold of women's basketball – whose maternal grandmother was born in Paris, is the first French player to join the WNBA All-Star Game. But she adds her name to those of Tony Parker (six times), Joakim Noah (two), Rudy Gobert (three) and Victor Wembanyama (one), the French having already taken part in the NBA's major event , on the men's side.