The Phoenix Mercury have added one other guard to their roster; Monique Akoa-Makani, a Cameroonian guard who most not too long ago performed for the French membership Charnay Basket. On that membership, she averaged 14.6 factors, 5.3 assists, and 4.2 rebounds per recreation.
Per the WNBA transactions web page, the Mercury signed Akoa-Makani to a rookie-scale contract. She’s the sixth worldwide participant the Mercury have signed, becoming a member of Kitija Laksa (Latvia), Sami Whitcomb (Australia), Sevgi Uzun (Turkey), Murjanutu Musa (Nigeria), and Anna Makurat (Poland). The signing — whereas possible not notably consequential for the Mercury’s championship odds contemplating Akoa-Makani’s youth and relative inexperience —does sign the league’s continued transfer towards worldwide gamers.
The WNBA, whereas nonetheless largely dominated by American gamers, has trended towards extra worldwide gamers lately, with gamers like Ezi Magbegor (Australia), Kamilla Cardoso (Brazil), Bridget Carleton (Canada), Aaliyah Edwards (Canada), Leonie Fiebich (Germany), and Nyara and Satou Sabally (Germany) serving as just some examples of high-impact worldwide gamers. Fiebich become one of many WNBA’s most impactful rookies and was a key a part of why the New York Liberty received the 2024 championship.
Free company signings have trended worldwide in unprecedented vogue; the Connecticut Solar, for instance, have signed 3 worldwide gamers, headlined by French standout Leila Lacan. The Seattle Storm have signed two — Magbegor and Chinese language standout Li Yueru. Throughout the league, entrance workplaces are more and more taking discover of abroad expertise, as the sport continues to globalize.
Girls’s basketball in France is gaining momentum
France, specifically, seems to have a number of high-profile WNBA prospects within the works. Carla Leite, a 19-year-old French guard who the Golden State Valkyries chosen of their growth draft, is one potential impression participant. Janelle Salaun, a 6’6 ahead, is one other. Dominique Malonga, a 6’6 heart who might dunk at 16, is likely one of the most fun prospects in latest WNBA historical past, as detailed in a Ringer piece by Mark Schindler.
The NBA has change into more and more worldwide lately, with a number of the greatest gamers on the planet coming from abroad — like Luka Doncic (Slovenia), Nikola Jokic (Serbia), Giannis Antetokounmpo (Greece), Joel Embiid (Cameroon), Victor Wembenyama (France), and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (Canada), amongst others.
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Picture by Aurelien Meunier/Getty Pictures
Inevitably, ladies’s basketball will ultimately observe go well with to change into a extra globalized recreation — and France very nicely may very well be on the forefront. Within the meantime, the Mercury are the newest in an extended record of groups which have signed an rising variety of worldwide gamers to their 2024-25 WNBA rosters.
