Team USA may have won the gold medal at the 2026 FIBA World Cup, but they were certainly tested along the way. One of Team USA’s toughest games was against Italy to advance to the knockout round, escaping by with a score of 55-52. One of Italy’s standout players throughout the FIBA World Cup was guard Matilde Villa, who signed a development contract with the Atlanta Dream this week, the team announced.

The Dream have four games remaining on their regular season schedule in which Matilde Villa can make her WNBA debut as she is not eligible for the playoffs by nature of the league’s new development contracts. She joins Indya Nivar as the Dream’s two allowed development contracts players on the roster. The team had a spot open after waiving Jaylyn Sherrod right before the FIBA break.

Villa no doubt caught the eyes of WNBA teams during her performance at the FIBA World Cup. Although Italy did not advance knockout rounds, she was solid in her role as one of the team’s starting guards. Across Italy’s four games at the tournament, she averaged 10.0 points, 1.8 rebounds and 1.3 assists with splits of 43.6 percent shooting from the field, 20 percent shooting from the 3-point line and 83.3 percent shooting from the free-throw line.

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Against Team USA, Villa finished with six points, five rebounds, one assist and one steal in a team-high 29 minutes of play. She shot 3-of-10 from the field, all 2-point attempts.

The Dream are currently 26-14 and in fourth place in the WNBA standings heading into the final stretch of the regular season as a potential contending team.