Another Husky is headed to Tokyo.
Former UConn women’s basketball standout Gabby Williams made the 12-person Olympic team for France, where she is a naturalized citizen.
Williams is the 10th former or current Husky to make an Olympic basketball team for the Tokyo Games, joining Sue Bird, Diana Taurasi, Tina Charles, Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier for Team USA, Kia Nurse and Aaliyah Edwards for Team Canada and Stefanie Dolson and Katie Lou Samuelson for Team USA’s 3x3 squad.
Fellow UConn star Bria Hartley was also in consideration for the French Olympic team, having helped it qualify for Tokyo back in February 2020. According to reports last week, she was not able to return to the court in time from the ACL tear she suffered during the last WNBA season. Phoenix Mercury coach Sandy Brondello previously said Hartley would not make her first WNBA appearance of the season before the Olympic break.
Due to FIBA rules that limit the number of naturalized players per team to one, both Williams and Hartley wouldn’t have been able to make the French team.
Williams has been playing with France all summer, first at EuroBasket last month where Les Bleues earned a second-place finish. Williams was suspended for the entirety of the WNBA season by the Chicago Sky, the team that drafted her in 2018, in a move that general manager/head coach James Wade said was due to Williams’ prioritization of French national team commitments. She was then traded to the Los Angeles Sparks but won’t make her WNBA return until 2022.
Williams will start her Olympic career on July 27, when France takes on Japan in group play. Les Bleues are in the same group as Nigeria and Team USA, who they will face on Aug. 2.
