As the curtain falls on Paris Olympics, the players will once again get off from international duties and will be heading to league basketball. While the majority of hoopers will return to America to compete in WNBA, some European stars won’t have that opportunity due to the league’s new prioritization rule, introduced last year. However, certain players, like German star Satou Sabally, will not tolerate this rule, as they speak out against being forced to make a difficult choice.

While Satou Sabally will be heading back to the WNBA to play for the Dallas Wings, her future is also clouded by a rule change instituted by WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert last year, mandating players to prioritize the WNBA over international leagues. “As a player, I obviously criticized the prioritization rule that the WNBA implemented. I think it’s really bad to punish International players, especially players coming from France, they can’t come over at all anymore. That’s just unfair,” said Sabally during Olympics via USA Today.

WNBA’s Prioritization Rule conditions and its impact on International players

Now, we cannot ignore the WNBA players who head abroad during the offseason to boost their incomes. According to the Associated Press, nearly half of the league’s 144 players took their talents overseas last offseason. While WNBA’s summer season traditionally complements international leagues’ winter schedules, allowing players to stay active year-round, in recent years, the overlap between the end of some international seasons and the start of the WNBA season has created scheduling conflicts, disrupting players’ ability to seamlessly transition between leagues.

“For an international player, their main thing is playing in Europe. Prioritization really limits playing in both worlds,” said Breanna Stewart, the New York Liberty star which suggests that the problem is even bigger for the European players who are left to make a choice between enjoying some time in their home leagues or opting to play on the bigger stage of WNBA.