Why is Olympic medalist Gabby Williams not within the WNBA? It's complicated

Why doesn't Gabby Williams play within the WNBA?

It's an issue Williams has needed to grapple with too over and over over the past 4 years, and one which's once more front and center following the previous UConn player's dominant performance on the Paris Olympics. As Williams considers a return to the league where she has played 135 games since 2018, the obstacles to her re-entry raise necessary questions on player freedom of motion within the WNBA and what changes the players' union should prioritize because it decides whether to opt out of the present collective bargaining agreement at the top of 2024.

Williams, who led France to a silver medal and averaged 15.5 points, 4.8 assists and a couple of.8 steals per game through the Olympics, entered the 2024 WNBA offseason as an unrestricted free agent. A standout perimeter defender throughout her skilled profession, she has improved her ball-handling and shot creation during her time playing in Europe and will slot immediately right into a contender's guard rotation.

But Williams has been a part-time member of the WNBA since 2021. She was unable to play the complete season and has struggled with priority issues every year for the past two years. The players' union must address various priorities in a brand new collective bargaining agreement, including salaries, maternity protection (of particular importance after Dearica Hamby's lawsuit) and profit sharing. Williams' experience also sheds light on players' agency and autonomy, and what freedoms players have earned after helping to construct the league.

The BEST of Xi'an 👑

Gabby Williams helped France to triumph #FIBAOQT in Xi'an, averaging 16.3 PTS, 4.0 REB, 2.7 STL and 19.3 EFF and earning the TISSOT MVP award ⚙️ pic.twitter.com/UALfRCwPCe

— FIBA ​​(@FIBA) February 12, 2024

Rather than sign with a team through the 2024 offseason, Williams opted to spend the primary half of the season preparing for the Olympics. Because she retained her free agent status and finished her European club season before May 1, Williams isn’t subject to the WNBA's prioritization clause, which requires internationally competing players to report initially of the WNBA calendar (even when their overseas team remains to be playing) or otherwise be locked up for the season. She could decide to play the remainder of the season within the U.S., provided a team has a roster spot and salary cap space available. Even with the WNBA transfer deadline on Tuesday, Williams is probably going probably the most impactful signing a team could make before the top of the regular season.

But how originally reported by Rachel Galligan on X and confirmed by , Williams is considering returning to the WNBA this season, as that call would impact her options in 2025. If Williams simply chooses to avoid the WNBA in 2024 (she already has a contract to play for top Turkish team Fenerbahçe in 2024-25), she’s going to once more be an unrestricted free agent within the 2025 offseason and have full control over where she plays within the league next 12 months. However, if she signs for the rest of the season, that team would have the chance to maneuver Williams out of the core, thus retaining her exclusive negotiating rights for 2025.

WNBA teams have the choice of naming a free agent as an everyday player through the offseason. The player can then negotiate with that team only as a free agent and can receive a guaranteed one-year contract unless the 2 parties conform to a take care of different terms or a trade.

The purpose of the core provision was to offer teams a approach to protect their investment in a player. After drafting, developing and investing in a player, the core provides franchises with one other mechanism to maintain top talent of their organizations. However, by definition, it also limits the player's freedom, which has inadvertently been the story of Williams' WNBA profession.

In 2021, Williams would have had to sit down out a part of the season to play for France at EuroBasket and the Tokyo Olympics. Although she expected to return to the United States after completing her international obligations, the Chicago Sky suspended her for the complete season, meaning she wouldn’t receive payment for her WNBA contract. In 2023, the prioritization clause would have prevented Williams from competing for the Seattle Storm because her French season ended after the WNBA calendar began. It was only attributable to an unexpected coincidence that she was capable of play for the Storm; she suffered a concussion in France, ending her European season early and making her available for Seattle.

Now Williams sees her autonomy threatened by one other provision of the collective agreement: the core.

Williams' case challenges the core determination theory. She isn’t a franchise player. If she returns to the WNBA, she’s going to return to a team that didn’t draft her and gave her no marketing money because she is all the time overseas within the offseason. A team's only investment in her can be the roughly $20,000 it pays her for a dozen or so regular-season games at the top of the season. And for that limited period, a team could control where she plays in 2025.

While the WNBA grows in size and brings in additional revenue, the CBA still exists to guard the interests of the teams, not the players. Mechanisms like restricted free agency, a cap and the core limit players' markets and their ability to hunt positions of their selecting.

As a result, players must make difficult decisions that usually discourage their participation within the WNBA. Prioritization forces them to choose from playing overseas and within the U.S., and overseas contracts often exceed what the most effective players can earn within the U.S. Elena Delle Donne was loaned from the Washington Mystics this offseason and the veteran player is now sitting out despite reportedly expressing interest in playing elsewhere. So the WNBA is missing out on considered one of the last healthy seasons from a two-time MVP.

Williams could stay in France for a month and bask within the glory of her silver medal before heading to Turkey. Instead, the choice to assist a team chase a WNBA title could tie her down and once more put her WNBA profession within the hands of an out of doors player. Professional experience must be a priority for players, not force them to depend on the guarantees and goodwill of organizations. The reason Williams isn't playing within the WNBA is because she's trying to manage her profession, and the league's CBA is trying to manage her.