“I Want to Be a Leader”: Gabby Williams Embracing Full WNBA Season with Seattle Storm Amid EuroBasket Opt-Out

Gabby Williams made a defining choice for the 2025 WNBA season. The Seattle Storm forward and longtime member of the French national team opted to forgo EuroBasket in favor of a full-season commitment to the Storm, a move that underscores her dedication to a team navigating early injuries and high expectations.

“It’s obviously not a very easy decision to make,” Williams told DallasHoopsJournal.com. “But I think the position that our team is in this year, I couldn’t permit myself to leave.”

The decision became more pressing as Seattle’s roster thinned before the season began. ACL injuries to Jordan Horston and Katie Lou Samuelson left the Storm with just 10 healthy players entering the opener.

“It was especially difficult when Jordan [Horston] went down with the ACL,” Williams said. “But then after [Katie Lou Samuelson] went down with the ACL, leaving us with 10 players, I couldn’t do that to my teammates.”

Williams responded with one of her most complete performances in recent memory. In the Storm’s 79-71 win over the Dallas Wings on Monday, she finished with 17 points, five rebounds, five assists, three steals, and two blocks, helping lead the team on both ends.

Leading From the Start

Williams joined the Storm midseason in past years after fulfilling French national team duties. This time, she arrived from Day 1 of training camp, and the difference is already showing.

“I’m happy to be here,” Williams told DallasHoopsJournal.com. “I’m here from the beginning, so I want to play all 44 games with this team. It’s a huge advantage. Every time I come late, it always takes me like a few games to get going, to readjust.”

That presence has allowed her to help build chemistry with a group that blends veterans and younger contributors.

“It’s a lot of familiar faces, a lot of new faces, but everyone that we’ve brought has already brought really good energy,” she said. “And this feels like a really tight group.”

Her teammates have taken notice. Skylar Diggins, who has emerged as one of Williams’ most vocal supporters, praised her postgame performance on Monday.

“Gabby played the whole damn game, first of all,” Diggins told DallasHoopsJournal.com. “Her shape is amazing, and she had a really tough matchup tonight and will every night because she’s our best permanent defender, and we really rely on her size. Ten deflections tonight—that’s something we count. Just extremely active on the perimeter. She can rebound, she can get us into our offense.”

Diggins continued: “She can do everything. And I think really just us as a team, as an organization, empowering her to be exactly who she is—one of the best players in this world. We are lucky to have her and her commitment to this team this year.”

Storm head coach Noelle Quinn echoed those sentiments during her postgame remarks Wednesday, praising Williams for embracing guarding top players like Arike Ogunbowale. Williams helped hold Ogunbowale to 2-of-13 shooting amid an eight-point outing, while being a connective presence offensively.

“Gabby’s activity and her defensive presence and her athleticism really ignites a lot of what we do on the defensive end,” Quinn said. “She has tough assignments every game, and she takes the challenge with great pride. She’s not just a good defensive player, she’s a really good offensive player, and I know we’ve had glimpses of her showing that within this league, but to have her here for an entire season, I think is going to—we’re going to really see her blossom.”

“I think she thrives when she’s confident, and I’m going to continue to pour into her confidence no matter what, whether you go one for nine or seven for 13, Gabby’s going to impact the basketball game,” Quinn added. “Her teammates know that, we know that as a staff, and she was huge for us in her minutes guarding Arike [Ogunbowale] but also her other assignments.”

Unconventional Path, Full-Circle Moment

Williams has long straddled two basketball worlds—rising as a star in France while carving out a role in the WNBA. For teammate Nneka Ogwumike, this is the first time she’s gotten to play alongside Williams in the league—a player she’s long admired and views as a strong talent to play alongside.

“I think she’s settling into understanding that she is a scorer and she is a real asset on the court,” Ogwumike said during training camp. “Her tenure in the WNBA has been unconventional, but I think finally being a part of what she can call a family here in Seattle, I’m really grateful to be a part of that.”

“She’s someone I’ve been trying to play with for a while. … Gabby has a killer instinct. When she’s out there, everything is incredibly instinctual,” Ogwumike said. “I’m just excited to see her here this early and for us to incorporate that jelling that we started at the end of last season.”

Diggins said the foundation was laid during training camp.

“Gabby is one of the best players in the world and she has so much going on,” Diggins said. “For her to be here on the first day of camp, I thought that was huge. We talked about that investment piece—all in, all the time—and that was Gabby showing her commitment by being here on Day 1.”

Williams also sees her place in the WNBA as part of a broader evolution in European basketball. She praised the recent arrival of Dominique “Dom” Malonga, a 2024 WNBA draft pick from France.

“I’m obviously really excited to have Dom here and also just the future of French basketball right now and her kind of leading the way on that,” Williams told DallasHoopsJournal.com.

She noted that she and Malonga are Jordan Brand athletes, a connection that resonates deeply in France.

“Jordan is a huge part of French pop culture,” Williams said. “It means a lot for Dom and I to be a part of that, especially in France where you don’t see a lot of kids kind of get these contracts.”

Pushing for Better Alignment Between WNBA and FIBA

Though Williams declined to play for France this summer, she remains hopeful that global basketball calendars can align better. FIBA has begun taking measures to balance the women’s calendar better, including a recent announcement to push back the start of the 2030 World Cup to late November or early December, giving players more time to rest after the WNBA season.

“There’s little to no communication between the WNBA and FIBA,” Williams told DallasHoopsJournal.com, adding that a potential shift of the FIBA World Cup to later in the year would be “a great look in the future.”

In the meantime, her whole focus is on making a lasting impact in Seattle.

“Being here from the beginning gives me a real chance to set the tone,” Williams told DallasHoopsJournal.com. “I want to be a leader, a veteran, and make an impact every single game.”

By choosing to stay with the Storm rather than represent France at EuroBasket, Williams cemented her commitment to Seattle’s growth and made her case one of the WNBA’s most versatile, valuable two-way forces.