The WNBA calendar runs through the summer, which means the regular season is set up for interruptions from international tournaments. Last year, that was the Olympics in Paris. This season, it's the FIBA EuroBasket — and several key players will be away from their WNBA teams.
What is the FIBA Women's EuroBasket?
The FIBA Women's EuroBasket is a 16-team tournament held every two years. The 2025 version will be held from June 18 to June 29, with games played in Italy, Greece, Germany and the Czechia.
The teams are divided into four groups of four teams. Each team will player every other team in their group, and the two teams with the best record in each group will advance to the knockout stage — the single-elimination quarterfinals.
Which teams are in the FIBA Women's EuroBasket?
The 16 teams who have qualified for the tournament this summer have been organized into the following groups.
FIBA Women's EuroBasket Group A
- Greece
- Turkey
- France
- Switzerland
FIBA Women's EuroBasket Group B
- Slovenia
- Serbia
- Italy
- Lithuania
FIBA Women's EuroBasket Group C
- Belgium
- Czechia
- Montenegro
- Portugal
FIBA Women's EuroBasket Group D
- Great Britain
- Germany
- Sweden
- Spain
The USA is obviously not in the field, not being in Europe, but many of the top teams in the world are included. France, Spain, Serbia and Belgium (the defending champions) are all currently in the top-10 in FIBA's women's international rankings.
Which WNBA players will miss time for the FIBA Women's EuroBasket?
There is one thing I need to be perfectly clear about from the start. I did not compile this information. All credit for this information being available goes to user “aratcalledrattus” from this Reddit post.
PLAYER | WNBA TEAM | COUNTRY |
|---|---|---|
Leonie Fiebich | Liberty | Germany |
Nyara Sabally | Liberty | Germany |
Jessica Shepard | Lynx | Slovenia |
Julie Allemand | Sparks | Belgium |
Julie Vanloo | Valkyries | Belgium |
Janelle Salaün | Valkyries | France |
Cecilia Zandalasini | Valkyries | Italy |
Temi Fagbenle | Valkyries | Great Britain |
Teaira McCowan | Wings | Turkey |
Luisa Geiselsoder | Wings | Germany |
It’s worth noting that, per the post, the following players will not be attending Eurobasket: Gabby Williams and Dominique Malonga of the Storm, Carla Leite and Kyara Linskens of the Valkyries, Marine Johannes of the Liberty, Satou Sabally and Natasha Mack of the Mercury, or Megan Gustafson of the Aces.
Finally, there are a few players who plan to join in the WNBA season after Eurobasket concludes: Iliana Rupert of the Valkyries, Leila Lacan of the Sun, and Emma Meesseman most recently of the Chicago Sky in 2022.
So, potentially, players could be leaving any time they want at this point. And they may not be back until the very, very end of June. The WNBA season, while getting longer, is still pretty short. A couple weeks without a rotation piece could be the difference between going above or below .500 in that stretch.
But hey. It’s basketball, and basketball is fun. It’s important that the WNBA share. If most of my nieces and nephews can do it, they can too.