No Frenchwoman had been classified as well since Isabelle Fijalkowski in 1997, but it was at the time in a scholarship reserved for professional players, when the WNBA had just been born. “I am so proud to be there,” launched the native of Yaoundé, capital of Cameroon, on the Shed stage, the New York room where the draft was held, in English. “My family is there, they know all the work it took to get there,” she added. She paid tribute to her clubs, Tarbes and Asvel, and also praised her fans “in Cameroon and in Congo”.
“It’s a dream”
Dominique Malonga joins in WNBA a dozen compatriots like Marine Johannès, who re-signed with the defending champions of the New York Liberty, or his future teammate at the Storm of Seattle, the Ailière des Bleues Gabby Williams. Another Frenchwoman selected Monday, Adja Kane, who plays with Landerneau, was chosen by Liberty in 38th position. “WNBA is a dream. I have been watching for years and that I tell myself if I was there, “added Dominique Malonga during an interview in New York. “I cherish this moment and I just can’t wait to go there, to play, to discover this somewhat American craze that we know in the rooms,” she added, when the regular season starts in a month.
Confident, Dominique Malonga is not afraid to compare himself to the best. “When I see A’ja Wilson playing today, this is the kind of impact I want to have” on the prosecution, hopes the French, by evoking the star of the Aces of Las Vegas, designated “MVP” of the 2024 season unanimously. Promise to a brilliant future since its professional debut in October 2021, one month before his 16 years, Dominique Malonga is released from a convincing regular season with ASVEL (17 pts and 10.6 rebounds on average per match, championship and Eurocoupe combined). She also distinguished herself by becoming the first Frenchwoman in Dunker in an official match (October 30 in Eurocoupe).
Antonin Thuillier / AFP
Compared to Wembanyama
A performance that has not gone unnoticed in the United States, where observers willingly resume the comparison with Victor Wembanyama, another very mobile and very large precocity phenomenon, chosen in number 1 by the San Antonio Spurs during the Draft NBA 2023. Dominique Malonga arrives in a championship in the middle of renewal, where the most prominent players, like the American Caitlin CAITLIN CLARK, Angel Reese and soon Paige Bueckers are icons that count their subscribers on social networks in millions.
The WNBA has progressed for several years with a new generation of players (Breanna Stewart, A’ja Wilson, Sabrina Ionescu) but really exploded in 2024 with the arrival of Caitlin Clark, which loves new fans with its spectacular game of blind passes and three -point surgical precision.
