France’s FIBA World Cup basketball team is dominating everyone

Two years ago, Gabby Williams walked off the court fighting tears after her French women’s basketball team narrowly fell to the United States women at the Paris Olympics.

Williams put forth a heroic effort, pouring in 19 points and a near-game-tying shot that, upon review, was a made two-pointer rather than the three-pointer France needed to force overtime.

Now, Williams and the French national team have the opportunity to avenge that loss in the FIBA World Cup, which began last Friday and wraps up this coming Sunday, September 13th.

And so far, France looks as dominant as anyone could have projected.

France defeated Hungary 99-53 in the first game of Group Play on Friday, and followed that up with a 95-69 win over Korea on Saturday. On Monday, the French women dominated Nigeria too, walking away with a 55-point win.

In Monday’s contest, Gabby Williams led the way with 25 points on 6-of-9 shooting along with 6 rebounds and 4 assists; Janelle Salaun added 19 points and 3 steals; and Marinne Johannes added 17 points and 4 assists.

Hungary, Nigeria, and Korea are not powerhouses; they have a combined four WNBA players, and they were not expected to be among the top teams in the field. Still, France’s dominance begs the question of whether this could be the year, particularly in the wake of the United States women nearly dropping their Sunday Group Play contest against Italy (but ultimately coming away with a three-point win). On top of that, Spain, another powerhouse team, dropped a Group Play game to Mali.

On Monday, the French team also set a new record for most three-pointers made in a single World Cup game (22).

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France has an absolutely stacked roster at the World Cup

The 2024 French Olympic team — a team that ultimately brought home a Silver Medal — was really good. But this roster just might be their best yet. The roster has 8 WNBA players: Pauline Astier (New York Liberty), Valeriane Ayayi (Phoenix Mercury), Marine Johannes (Liberty), Leila Lacan (Connecticut Sun), Carla Leite (Portland Fire), Dominique Malonga (Seattle Storm), Janelle Salaun (Golden State Valkyries), and Gabby Williams (Valkyries).

Marieme Badiane, Romane Bernies, Aminata Gueye, and Migna Toure round out the roster. Four WNBA standouts — Gabby Williams, Janelle Salaun, Valeriane Ayayi, and Leila Lacan — all start, as does center Marieme Badiane.

To put into context just how stacked this team is, Malonga, Astier, Leite, and Johannes all come off the bench. Malonga was named a WNBA All-Star this season; Astier is a WNBA All-Rookie Team candidate with the Liberty; Leite is the Portland Fire’s best player; and Johannes is among the WNBA’s best three-point shooters.

France will likely need to go through the United States in their pursuit of a Gold Medal, but if there’s one thing that became clear in the first week of Group Play action, anything can happen at the World Cup.