Two French women in the All-Rookie Team: WNBA has just taken a tricolor color
The WNBA has released its All-Rookie Team 2025 and, where some see an annual routine, others read a signal: two players born in France (Dominique Malonga and Janelle Salaün) appear in the five rising stars. It’s not just a passing trophy. This is proof that the path leading from the French championship to the most demanding parquet floors in the world is no longer a curiosity, it has become a credible trajectory.
Dominique Malonga: the patience that explodes
Dominique Malonga arrived at the Storm with a heavy label: second choice of the Draft, a promise written in bulk. Its first part of the season did not take the form of an instant fireworks. Bench, scattered minutes, waiting. Then flip it. When she was given the key, she didn’t try to polish it, she used it. His regular numbers (around 7.6 to 7.7 points and 4.7 rebounds over the regular season) tell only one piece of history. In playoffs, she climbed a step up, finding positions, biting on rebounds and letting feel that she had much more to offer than her averages.
What strikes at Malonga is not just instinct. It’s the way she transforms the wait into a soft rage: playing without panic, crossing the opposing lines without demolishing the rhythm of her team, sticking to the real work of said rookie, taking what we give her and making it a lasting threat. For a frankness that wanted freshness and reliability, it became the answer.
Janelle Salaün: the nonchalance that weighs
Janelle Salaün entered the league without a band. Undrafted, she joined the Valkyries via a training camp and quickly imposed her presence. Result: 11.3 points and 5.1 rebounds of average, 36% at three points and a ability to chain double-digit evenings, figures that reflect a simple reality: she didn’t come to learn, she came to play.
Salaün illustrates a modern profile: large, fluid, able to stretch the game while simplifying the rebound. She helped an expansion team reach the playoffs, and her coach Natalie Nakase didn’t hide her enthusiastic surprise, not because the surprise came from the gross yield, but because the young French woman showed a rare maturity, a cold head and a competitive spirit.
Why it’s historical
The simultaneous presence of Malonga and Salaün on the All-Rookie Team is not a calendar anecdote. This is the first time that two players born in France are distinguished as well, and it changes a story. For years, the road to WNBA passed through the United States (universities, visibility, networks). Today, different routes lead to the same observation: French basketball forms talented women capable of imposing directly.
It is not a question of reducing other Franco-American routes. Bria Hartley, often mentioned in francophone conversations, has French ties by filiation but has grown and been trained in the United States. What Malonga and Salaün accomplished is to bring France back to the centre of the plateau as a place of birth and formation of a talent ready to shine in WNBA.
A lever for the next generation
À l’échelle d’un pays, ces nominations font office de passerelle. Elles transforment des rêves lointains en trajectoires visibles : clubs de jeunes, centres de formation, agents et entraîneurs pourront désormais pointer des exemples concrets. Et pour chaque gamine qui dribble sur un playground à Paris, Lyon ou Bourges, la route vers la WNBA perd un peu de son mystère.
Côté franchises, c’est aussi un message : il faut regarder plus loin et diversifier les sources de recrutement. Les Valkyries et le Storm ont goûté à la jeunesse française et, manifestement, ils ont aimé ce qu’ils ont vu.
Now what?
Ce trophée n’est pas une destination. Pour Malonga et Salaün, c’est un nouveau départ. On attend maintenant la suite : confirmation, montée en charge, blessures évitées, adaptation à la longue saison WNBA. La ligue, elle, se contente d’ajouter deux noms français à sa liste de promesses tenues. Pour le basketball tricolore, c’est une belle soirée à célébrer, puis un lundi matin pour recommencer à travailler.
