<p><span style="font-weight: 400">As the WNBA begins its 30th anniversary season, the league is seeing an influx of global talent on the court. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400">According to the Elias Sports Bureau, as of Thursday night, 51 players born outside the United States had played in at least one game this season. That already marks a league record for a single season, surpassing the previous high of 50 set in 2001.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400">We’re still only a week into the season. With several players still fulfilling overseas commitments before joining their WNBA teams, that record should continue to climb in the weeks to come.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400">On Thursday, Alex Fowler of Australia made her WNBA debut in the New York Liberty’s 100-82 win over the Portland Fire. Fowler is the eighth international player to take the court for the Liberty this season — two shy of the single-team record of 10 set by Golden State last year.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400">While Australia still leads the way in international representation on WNBA rosters, France continues to emerge as a major pipeline of talent, following its push to the brink against the United States in the gold medal game at the 2024 Olympics. Through Thursday’s games, five of the league’s 32 players averaging at least 15 points per game are from France.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400">The Liberty and France are both well represented among these nine international players who have stood out during the season’s opening week.</span></p>
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<h3><b>Marine Johannès, New York Liberty (France)</b></h3>
<div id="attachment_260680" style="width: 910px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-260680" class="wp-image-260680" src="https://cdn.wnba.com/sites/4/2026/05/GettyImages-2274983932-1-scaled.jpg" alt="" width="900" height="600" srcset="https://cdn.wnba.com/sites/4/2026/05/GettyImages-2274983932-1-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.wnba.com/sites/4/2026/05/GettyImages-2274983932-1-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cdn.wnba.com/sites/4/2026/05/GettyImages-2274983932-1-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://cdn.wnba.com/sites/4/2026/05/GettyImages-2274983932-1-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.wnba.com/sites/4/2026/05/GettyImages-2274983932-1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.wnba.com/sites/4/2026/05/GettyImages-2274983932-1-2048x1366.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px" /><p id="caption-attachment-260680" class="wp-caption-text">Marine Johannes #23 of the New York Liberty</p></div>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400">The sharpshooting Liberty guard leads the league with 15 total 3-pointers made through four games, while her 3.8 made threes per game rank second behind Toronto’s Marina Mabrey. In addition to her shooting, Johannès is a playmaker, leading the Liberty (and tied for 10th in the league) with five assists per game. Her impact hasn’t been limited to offense, either, as Johannès ranks fifth in the WNBA in steals at 2.3 per game.</span></p>
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<h3><b>Pauline Astier, New York Liberty (France)</b></h3>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400">Johannès isn’t the only French guard thriving in Liberty seafoam so far this season. Astier, a 24-year-old undrafted rookie, has been brilliant in her first four WNBA games. She is New York’s second-leading scorer behind Breanna Stewart at 16.8 points per game and has shot the lights out — 62.5% from the field and 45.5% from beyond the arc — while adding four assists, nearly four rebounds, and 1.5 steals per game.</span></p>
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<h3><b>Dominique Malonga, Seattle Storm (France)</b></h3>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400">The No. 2 pick in the 2025 WNBA Draft showed flashes of her immense potential as a rookie while coming off the bench in all 42 games, averaging 7.7 points and 4.6 rebounds in 14.3 minutes per game. Now a full-time starter, logging over 26 minutes per game in her second season, the 6-foot-6 center leads the Storm in points (16.0), rebounds (7.3), and blocks (2.0), which are tied for 20th, 11th, and 4th in the WNBA, respectively.</span></p>
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<h3><b>Jade Melbourne, Seattle Storm (Australia)</b></h3>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400">The Liberty isn’t the only team with multiple international stars near the top of their leaderboards. Melbourne is Seattle’s second-leading scorer behind Malonga at 14 points per game on incredible efficiency — she’s shooting 61.9% from the field and 50% from 3-point range through three games. Melbourne, the Storm’s 2022 third-round pick, also leads the team in assists (5.0, tied for 10th in the WNBA) and is tied with rookie Flau’jae Johnson for the team lead with 1.7 steals per game.</span></p>
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<h3><b>Kamilla Cardoso, Chicago Sky (Brazil)</b></h3>
<div id="attachment_260682" style="width: 910px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-260682" class="wp-image-260682" src="https://cdn.wnba.com/sites/4/2026/05/GettyImages-2274856481-scaled.jpg" alt="" width="900" height="598" srcset="https://cdn.wnba.com/sites/4/2026/05/GettyImages-2274856481-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.wnba.com/sites/4/2026/05/GettyImages-2274856481-300x199.jpg 300w, https://cdn.wnba.com/sites/4/2026/05/GettyImages-2274856481-1024x680.jpg 1024w, https://cdn.wnba.com/sites/4/2026/05/GettyImages-2274856481-768x510.jpg 768w, https://cdn.wnba.com/sites/4/2026/05/GettyImages-2274856481-1536x1020.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.wnba.com/sites/4/2026/05/GettyImages-2274856481-2048x1360.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px" /><p id="caption-attachment-260682" class="wp-caption-text">Kamilla Cardoso #10 of the Chicago Sky</p></div>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400">In her third WNBA season, Cardoso is putting up career-best numbers through her first two games, averaging 15 points and 10.5 rebounds per game (tied for fourth in the league). She is one of only five players averaging a double-double so far this season, joining Shakira Austin, Aneesah Morrow, Kiki Iriafen, and former Sky teammate Angel Reese.</span></p>
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<h3><b>Bridget Carleton, Portland Fire (Canada)</b></h3>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400">The top pick in this year’s expansion draft, Carleton put up a career-best 26 points and five 3-pointers to help lead the Fire to their first win Tuesday. Through three games, she is averaging 16.7 points and 3.3 triples per game (third in the league behind Johannès and Mabrey) while shooting 41.7% from deep. She is Portland’s second-leading scorer — behind our next entry — and is tied for sixth in the league in steals at two per game.</span></p>
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<h3><b>Carle Leite, Portland Fire (France)</b></h3>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400">For the second straight season, Leite was selected in an expansion draft — chosen by the Valkyries in 2025 and by the Fire in 2026. The former top-10 draft pick had 21 points in Portland’s first win, following an 18-point effort in her Fire debut. Leite’s 19.5 points per game rank 11th in the WNBA, and she joins Indiana’s Caitlin Clark as the only players averaging at least 19 points, three rebounds, and three assists this season.</span></p>
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<h3><b>Jovana Nogic, Phoenix Mercury (Serbia)</b></h3>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400">After playing pro ball overseas since 2019, the 28-year-old Serbian guard signed with the Mercury in April and has made an immediate impact through her first three games. Nogic ranks second in the WNBA in 3-point shooting at 66.7% (8-for-12), third on the Mercury in scoring at 12.3 points per game behind veterans Kahleah Copper and Alyssa Thomas, and first on the team in plus/minus. The Mercury have outscored opponents by 34 points during her 66 minutes on the court.</span></p>
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<h3><b>Janelle Salaün<span style="text-decoration: underline">,</span> Golden State Valkyries (France)</b></h3>
<div id="attachment_260683" style="width: 910px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-260683" class="wp-image-260683" src="https://cdn.wnba.com/sites/4/2026/05/GettyImages-2275905371-scaled.jpg" alt="" width="900" height="600" srcset="https://cdn.wnba.com/sites/4/2026/05/GettyImages-2275905371-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.wnba.com/sites/4/2026/05/GettyImages-2275905371-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cdn.wnba.com/sites/4/2026/05/GettyImages-2275905371-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://cdn.wnba.com/sites/4/2026/05/GettyImages-2275905371-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.wnba.com/sites/4/2026/05/GettyImages-2275905371-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.wnba.com/sites/4/2026/05/GettyImages-2275905371-2048x1365.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px" /><p id="caption-attachment-260683" class="wp-caption-text">Janelle Salaün #13 of the Golden State Valkyries</p></div>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400">Like Nogic, Salaun has played professionally overseas since 2019. After joining the Valkyries for their inaugural season last year, Salaun averaged 11.3 points and 5.1 rebounds while starting 33 of her 36 games as a WNBA rookie. Despite coming off the bench in her first three games this season, Salaun has been even better, averaging a team-high 15.7 points and 3.3 3-pointers per game on 50% shooting from beyond the arc.</span></p>


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