Why isn’t French Olympic star Gabby Williams in the WNBA? Can she join a team this season?

The 2024 Olympic Games in Paris introduced women’s basketball fans to a wider world of stars, and few shone brighter than Gabby Williams, who nearly sent France to overtime against Team USA in the gold medal match.

Williams is not an active WNBA roster member. Neither is Olympic leading scorer Emma Meesseman of Belgium or Williams’ French teammate Marine Johannès. It has left fans somewhat bewildered as the WNBA, touted as the best women’s league in the world, prepares to resume play on Thursday.

All three have played WNBA minutes and opted to remain with their national teams in training camps leading up to the Games. Much of that has to do with the WNBA’s controversial priority clause, which went into full effect this spring and requires teams to suspend players who don’t arrive at training camp on time. Williams, a two-time NCAA champion at UConn, became the face of the clause during its initial implementation last year, when players were fined for each day they missed. She played five seasons in the league from 2018-2023 and has repeatedly said she plans to return.

If she is interested, there is a path around the clause for her and select other European stars to sign with WNBA teams ahead of the postseason. Chicago Sky rookie Angel Reese has already made the first move to team up with Williams, who politely declined to return to Chicago given her history with the organization.

Here’s why Williams isn’t on a WNBA team yet and how she could sign sometime this month.

Prioritization clause creates difficult choices

Williams said in late 2022 that she was “avoiding the W because teams aren’t touching my earnings in Europe.” Her base salary that year with Seattle was $144,000, and she is willing to give that up to earn more money overseas in France, where she has dual citizenship. For most of the WNBA’s 28-year history, players have supplemented their salaries in the league with better pay with overseas teams that have longer seasons than the WNBA.

They also use it to improve or work on parts of their game and to keep playing in the six months between W seasons. And certain overseas clubs, such as UMMC Ekaterinburg in Russia before the invasion of Ukraine, treat their female basketball players like real celebrities and superstars.

But the problem was that those extended seasons often stretched into the early May start of the WNBA season, leaving headliners like Breanna Stewart and Brittney Griner late arrivals. Napheesa Collier missed multiple regular-season games for Minnesota in 2021 while winning a French championship. The absence of star players diminished the product during the crucial first week of the season.

The players’ union and team owners agreed to prioritization as part of the 2020 collective bargaining agreement. In 2023, players were fined 1% of their base salary for each day of training camp they missed and suspended if they were not on the market for the start of the regular season. This year, they were suspended if they failed to report to camp. There are some exceptions to the rule, namely for players with less than three years of service. It’s one aspect the players are seeking to renegotiate in the CBA if they plan to opt out this fall.

They can still play abroad, but they must choose clubs in leagues that have adjusted their schedules to accommodate the clause and keep WNBA talent on the roster. The French league, where Williams plays for ASVEL, is not one of them. But schedules around the world have looked different this season in an Olympic year.

How Williams Can Return to the WNBA

Williams is a free agent and not under contract with a WNBA team, which opens a potential path for a postseason run because she completed her offseason playing obligation before the start of the WNBA regular season, signing with Seattle in July 2023. Teams can sign players at any time before their final regular-season game. All 12 teams play in the Finals on Sept. 19, and all but the Dallas Wings have cap room.

Since Williams would sign a prorated contract, likely for about 37 percent of the veteran minimum of $76,353, she could sign with Chicago, Connecticut, Indiana, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Minnesota or Washington immediately before Thursday’s games, according to salary data from Her Hoop Stats. Teams would have to make a corresponding roster move to remain within the 11-12 rostered players.

Signing Williams to a hardship contract is also a possibility if an injury hampers a team before the playoffs. There are restrictions on when a team can sign a player under that clause. Meesseman, who last played for the Mystics and won the 2019 Finals MVP, has not expressed interest in returning but could do the same as a free agent. Johannès is a reserved free agent with New York and could return to the league-leading Liberty because she has less than three years of contract left.