The Sky’s season is over, but their work isn’t done. After a record 40-game regular season and two playoff games, most players on the roster will now head overseas.
This was the first year of the WNBA’s new prioritization rule, which required all players with at least three years of WNBA experience to return from overseas play by the season opener in May. The rule becomes even more stringent next year, when all players with at least three years of experience are required to report before training camp.
Compounding the issue is the 2024 Summer Olympics schedule, which likely will necessitate an earlier start to the WNBA season to allow for a midseason break, as has occurred with past Olympics.
Citing that and the prioritization rule, Storm forward Gabby Williams said earlier this month that she likely won’t play in the WNBA in 2024. Center Sika Kone is the Sky’s only international player who stands to be absent for Olympic play in Paris. But unlike Williams, Kone has fewer than three years in the WNBA and won’t be impacted by the prioritization rule.
Overseas schedules may present complications for some WNBA players, however. The French league plays into June in 2024, which would disqualify a player from competing in the WNBA unless there’s a contract clause that would allow her to be released early. In 2022, Sky guard Julie Allemand was a late arrival in June after her European team, Lyon Asvel Feminin, lost in the French League finals. She opted out of this past Sky season to honor her Belgium national team commitments.
Of the eight Sky players competing overseas, four will be in Turkey: guard Marina Mabrey and forward Elizabeth Williams (CBK Mersin), forward Alanna Smith (Emlak Konut) and guard Dana Evans (second season with Besiktas).Kone and forward Morgan Bertsch will be in Spain with Spar Girona and CB Avenida, respectively. And forwards Robyn Parks and Taylor Soule will play for Italian clubs Famila Wuber Schio and Lupe-basket.
Three-time All-Star forward Kahleah Copper is undecided about whether she’ll play overseas, and forward Isabelle Harrison and guard Rebekah Gardner are still rehabbing season-ending injuries.
Gardner, who has been running a treadmill for a few weeks, expects to be cleared for complete basketball workouts by the end of Octo-ber. Before her injury, she had decided to delay playing overseas until January, as opposed to immediately after the end of the Sky’s season. During exit inter-views this past week, she said she’ll decide where she’s headed once she’s healthy.
“The way that I play and my age, it’s hard to play all year,” said Gardner, 33. “I don’t ever want to do that again.”
Evans, Williams, Mabrey and Kone are the only players currently under contract with the Sky for 2024. Kone is the only one with under three years of WNBA experience who can arrive late to camp.
