Teen phenom Dominique Malonga officially introduced herself to US basketball fans during Monday’s 2025 WNBA Draft, with the 19-year-old becoming the highest drafted French player in league history as the overall No. 2 pick by the Seattle Storm.
“I’m so proud just to show that today French basketball is at a level that we have never seen,” she told reporters after her record-setting selection.
“She’s a unicorn. She’s one of one,” Seattle head coach Noelle Quinn said of the 6-foot-6 teenager. “The thing that is very intriguing about her is the way that she’s grown rapidly over the last few years…. She’s 100% an amazing athlete.”
Malonga’s rapid rise to the WNBA
After turning pro at just 15 years old in 2021, Malonga’s first international spotlight came during the 2024 Paris Olympics, when the then-18-year-old debuted as the youngest player on France’s silver medal-winning national team.
A nimble, athletic player with skilled shooting and marked versatility, Malonga went on to make waves last October as the first-ever Frenchwoman to dunk in a game.
“I would say that international FIBA basketball prepared me [on] toughness because it was…
