The WNBA has hit its offseason, and many players, as always, are already finalizing deals with international leagues. But rookie sensation and No. 2 overall pick in the 2025 draft, Dominique Malonga, is an exception. Not because she’s choosing to stay amid CBA uncertainty, but because of the way she’s ended up in this situation.

The youngest player ever drafted by the Seattle Storm has been playing professional basketball in Europe for the last four seasons. So she was expected to strengthen the Fenerbahçe Opet’s women’s basketball team by playing alongside other WNBA players like Emma Meesseman, Gabby Williams, Julie Allemand, Rebecca Allen, Monique Billings, and Megan Gustafson. But that’s not happening anymore. 

Reports from BeBasket on October 20 confirmed that she unexpectedly pulled out of her three-year Fenerbahçe contract. Turkish outlet Mert Genç ile Kadın Basketbolu first reported the story. Despite having two-year contract inked with Fenerbahce with an option for a third year, Malonga is opting to “unilaterally terminate” her contract, “without just cause.” It all came up a week before she was to make a debut for Turkish Giants against Olympiacos in the Euroleague competition. Of course, terminating a contract isn’t that easy, so she’s got a price to pay for it.

To ensure that, Fenerbahçe made a public announcement that the team will “exercise all our legal rights to seek any compensation for any material and moral damages incurred by our club during this process.”

Well, the action seems justified, since Malonga’s decision to pull out is tough for the team, especially as it has to contend with the departure of Teaira McCowan after she suffered a wrist injury. But Malonga came prepared, too. To handle the situation, she left her previous agency and is now represented by agent Miloud Dahine. Dahine is an experienced former basketball player who also works with Pauline Astier, Valérie Garnier, and Mike James. So, most likely, he would help in reaching an amicable resolution with Fenerbahçe. But the question is-what led her to play such a big gamble?

Malonga’s controversial contract move stems from her dislocated wrist, an injury she suffered during the WNBA season. As she herself put it on TikTok, “I dislocated the tendon of my wrist during a game, and actually when it happened, I thought it was my bone because I could see my tendon moving inside my wrist, and so I was like, did I move my bone? But no, it wasn’t. I did an X-ray. It was clear, so my bone was fine. But it was still really scary.” And yes, ever since Malonga suffered her wrist injury, she’s been taping it.

But while she kept playing with tape on, she revealed that her tendon “keeps popping out” and that she “had to put it back in place every time.” So yes, it was quite serious. However, with the Storm being eliminated in the first round of the playoffs, she underwent surgery and is currently in the recovery process.

At first, it was a soft cast for the incision to heal, and then she got a hard cast on for another week. “And then after these four weeks, I will take the cast off and try to find some range of motion back again. But yeah, I still see the positive part though in this injury because I just get to rest here in Seattle. And I feel like I needed that. It’s been a while that I didn’t have some time off, and yeah, just the time to breathe and refocus,” she added in the same video.

For her, the priority is staying healthy by resting in Seattle – that’s why she pulled out. But is it really because she needs to rest?

WNBA community hints at Unrivaled speculation!

According to chatter around the W, Malonga’s surprise move to back out of her contract with Fenerbahçe might be due to her interest in the Unrivaled league. Yes, Fenerbahçe has a record of 19 Turkish Women’s Basketball Super League titles. But Unrivaled’s got an edge.

To start with, Unrivaled is a domestic league that runs through the W’s offseason. It’s growing financially and in popularity too. And according to BeBasket, the Turkish club offered Malonga €90,000 (approximately $104,000 USD), which is quite low compared to the average salary of $222,000 offered to players in Unrivaled last year.

She’s even got a strong chance of becoming part of the domestic league. She played 42 games as a rookie with the Seattle Storm and averaged 7.7 points and 4.6 rebounds across 14.3 minutes per game. So yes, Unrivaled might hire her soon, but as of now, there’s no confirmation about her leaving Fenerbahçe for Unrivaled, nor has she inked a deal with the 3×3 league. But, last season, she also played for LDLC ASVEL Féminin in the EuroCup Women competition, averaging 18.5 points and 11 rebounds, which highlighted her consistency as a European pro even before entering the WNBA.

So, what do you think – is what Malonga’s saying true, or is there more she’s not telling?