While fans eagerly wait for the Philadelphia WNBA expansion team to tip off in 2030, players themselves are excited, too. Professional players from the area are fueling the anticipation by playing in the league and overseas.

Around half the WNBA’s players played in overseas leagues last offseason, Sportico found. While this number is down from a peak of 60% last decade, a lot of Philly-bred talent still spend the offseason abroad.

Growing up, Kamiah Smalls said she “always dreamed of the WNBA, but always strived for overseas, too.” She played at Neumann Goretti and James Madison and was drafted by the Indiana Fever 28th overall in the 2020 WNBA draft. Since then, she’s played for the Minnesota Lynx (2022), Atlanta Dream (she signed a seven-day contract Aug. 1 and played three games), and in Italy and will play for Galatasaray of the Turkish Super League this season. Smalls can’t wait for the Philly team to begin play.

“‘Hometown kid, we coming home,’ that was the first thing I said,” Smalls said. “I got up that morning, and that was the motivation for my workout that day. It’s necessary for the city. It’ll help to really bring some light to Philadelphia, some peace, some calmness. I think it’s long overdue. … It will really help some young girls to really manifest their own dreams. The sooner you can learn that you love the game, that’s when you start working.”

Smalls found a love of basketball overseas, and so have many others. Washington Mystics rookie Lucy Olsen said veteran players have strongly encouraged her to play overseas and explore the different play styles in other leagues.

Olsen, a Montgomery County native and former Villanova and Iowa standout, was the 23rd overall pick in April’s draft and has averaged 3.6 points, 1.0 rebounds, and 1.2 assists in 31 games (11.7 minutes per game). She signed with the Townsville Fire in Australia’s Women’s National Basketball League for the 2025-26 WNBA offseason.

“I want to travel while I can, and I want to just get more experience,” Olsen said. “It gives you different competition. It gives you a different role than you have in the W sometimes and makes a little extra money. I chose Australia because it was a combination of everything, and it’s a shorter season than Europe.”

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The shorter season is important for players like Olsen, who went straight from the college basketball season to the WNBA. Her season overseas begins Oct. 19, the same day as the last possible WNBA Finals date. Iowa’s season ended in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, but some rookies, like Dallas’ Paige Bueckers, had a run with Connecticut that ended in the national title game on April 6, eight days before the draft.

Players who are waived by WNBA teams often head overseas. Diamond Johnson starred at Neumann Goretti and Norfolk State and signed a training camp deal with the Minnesota Lynx this year but was cut. She recently signed with Hefei in the Women’s Chinese Basketball Association, describing it as the best option for her.

“I want the experience,” Johnson said. “As you see the W growing now, a lot of players come from overseas. They’ve been playing professionally for longer than us over here in the U.S. [Teams will] get to see me play against more pros as I go.”

With five expansion teams beginning play in the next five seasons, roster spots will increase from 156 to roughly 216, so players are looking for any opportunity to continue playing, practicing, and preparing for the possibility of being added to a team.

“The spots definitely matter,” Johnson said. “There’s a lot of great players sitting on free agency, a lot of talent out there, so I’m definitely glad that there will be more spots, not only for me, but for other players as well to get their chance.”

Keishana Washington has experienced the lack of roster spots. After a record-setting five-year tenure at Drexel, she went undrafted in 2023. She signed a training camp contract with Minnesota, but didn’t make the roster. She most recently played with Saint Amand Hainaut-Basket in France.

“With the expansion, it gives players the opportunity to be able to just play in the W,” Washington said. “Hopefully, with the new CBA agreements, players will be making more money to be able to sustain themselves and not have to go overseas.”

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Seeing how players prepare in the WNBA and overseas, Washington said the WNBA is more intense and physical than most of the European teams she has played. It ties into the small rosters, she said, and how every seat on the bench is filled with very talented players.

Smalls and Olsen have heard of WNBA players negotiating shorter overseas contracts to allow for more rest and recovery time, and Olsen said she plans to do that later. Many active players have half-season contracts, and Smalls thinks it is a best-of-both-worlds situation.

“I do enjoy going overseas,” Smalls said. “Sometimes it gets hard, I will not take that away from that experience. It gets very hard at some points. … But I have enjoyed being able to see the world from a different perspective, from different cultures, different experiences.

“But I am excited for people to get the chance to see me actually play stateside again, if I get that opportunity. I want my family to still be able to see me play, still see me thrive and enjoy what I do.”

Washington, who was born and raised in Pickering, Ontario, has personal connections to both the Toronto and Philly expansion teams, and would feel “a different level of joy” to be on either team’s roster. But ultimately, she’s just happy to play anywhere — on any continent — and for any team.

“I think the more basketball you can play, no matter where you are, the better prepared you’ll be for any given situation and opportunity,” Washington said. “You’re preparing, no matter who you’re playing for, you’re playing with, at the end of the day, you’re playing basketball. So I think that that’s good for whatever opportunities come your way.”