It's a tight game at Barclays Center on Memorial Day. With 14 seconds to play, Carla Leite nails a long 3-pointer for the Portland Fire .
Three seconds later, Marine Johannes gets a pass from New York Liberty teammate Pauline Astier and answers with her own big trey. Three players from France are taking center stage at crunch time in Brooklyn.
Two hours later on the opposite coast, Lithuanian guard Juste Jocyte makes her WNBA debut to a standing ovation in San Francisco. She was the No.
5 pick in the 2025 draft but didn't play in the WNBA last season. Golden State Valkyries fans were eager to welcome her.
"To be honest," Jocyte told ESPN about the greeting, "I was waiting for that day my whole life." Monday provided a quick snapshot of a noticeable WNBA trend this season: an influx of European players making the league's talent pool even deeper. Through Monday, 32 Europeans from 15 countries had played at least one WNBA game this season.
That represents 14.8% of the total number of player appearances across the league. If that remains steady throughout 2026, it will be the most in WNBA history.
Europeans made up more than 10% of player appearances in just two previous seasons, in 1998 (12.3%) and 1999 (12%). It's been below 7% for the majority (19) of the WNBA's previous 29 seasons, with a low of 2% in 2013.
The combination of higher salaries under the new collective bargaining agreement finalized in March and more jobs as two WNBA expansion teams joined the league have helped boost the European presence. Sources around the league also said there's a greater appreciation for the Europeans' playing style, which has meant more time spent scouting Europe.
The Minnesota Lynx 's Cheryl Reeve, the longest-tenured coach in the WNBA, told ESPN it is a "natural evolution." "Same thing you saw in the NBA," said Reeve, who is also Minnesota's president of basketball operations. "Won't be long before Europeans and other internationals are some of the best players in the league, just like in the NBA." The WNBA has been a global league since it launched in 1997, with a large international presence particularly from Australia, which produced three-time MVP Lauren Jackson.
European players have always been a part of the WNBA, including No. 1 draft picks Margo Dydek (1998) of Poland and Ann Wauters (2000) of Belgium.
No European has won the MVP award, but Belgium's Emma Meesseman was WNBA Finals MVP in 2019. Because the WNBA's season is mostly in the summer months, players of all nationalities could play year-round between the WNBA and overseas leagues held in the late fall to spring.
However, European players didn't always feel it was in their best interest financially to come to the WNBA. They often competed in the European season and used the summer to rest or to practice and compete with their national teams, which is a huge priority.
And WNBA teams didn't always seek them out as much as they do now, when players who are more "positionless" and offensively skilled have increased value. "Stylistically, there's much more of an appetite for the European player in the WNBA," agent Mike Cound, who has represented women's basketball players for more than 30 years, told ESPN.
"Look how much of an emphasis is being put on shooting now. "I think there's always been a place for these types of players in the WNBA.
But there's been a stereotype that's hurt them a little bit, that they were more 'finesse' players and not as physical. What we're seeing now is par