As the 2026 WNBA season comes into its final stretch, France is quietly having its best year yet

With roughly a month left in the 2026 WNBA regular season, which runs through September 24, France’s imprint on the league is impossible to miss. Carla Leite of the Portland Fire and Dominique Malonga of the Seattle Storm are putting up numbers that have landed them in award conversations, at least 13 French players have logged real minutes across the league this year according to BeBasket’s database, and the Golden State Valkyries — powered by Gabby Williams and Janelle Salaün — clinched a playoff spot for the second straight season on August 17. This is not a season recap. With games still to be played and races still to be settled, it is a snapshot of a French contingent that keeps growing in both size and impact.

Carrying the wave

No two names capture the moment better than Leite and Malonga. Malonga, 20 years old, born November 16, 2005, is averaging 17.2 points, 9.0 rebounds and 1.7 assists over 28 games played this season, per BeBasket’s database as of August 20. She has already become the youngest player in WNBA history to reach 500 points, 300 rebounds and 200 made field goals in her career. On August 12, she put an exclamation point on that stretch with 26 points and 10 rebounds as Seattle held off Chicago for a 97-88 win.

Leite, born April 16, 2004, has been just as central to the Portland Fire this season. She is averaging 15.7 points, 2.2 rebounds and 6.2 assists across 32 games. In late July, she set a new franchise and career mark against the Indiana Fever with 20 points and 12 assists, according to Oregonlive. She also posted her third 20-point double-double of the season as the Fire snapped a five-game losing streak against the Toronto Tempo.

Award races heating up

Both are now showing up in the league’s award conversations, and the timing matters: these races are still being decided in real time. A Lineups.com awards odds watch noted that Malonga is climbing in the Most Improved Player rankings. Separately, a Yahoo Sports award update published July 29 listed both Leite and Malonga among players “receiving votes,” pairing the two French players in the same breath as the league’s award buzz builds toward the stretch run.

That double mention — two French players drawing attention in the same national outlet’s award tracking — underlines how unusual this season has been. With the regular season running through September 24 and every team holding 10 or fewer games as of August 19, nothing is decided, but Malonga is climbing in one ranking and Leite has drawn votes of her own.

A deeper French wave than the headlines suggest

The story extends well beyond the two of them. Gabby Williams is averaging 14.8 points, 3.3 rebounds and 2.2 assists over 33 games for Golden State, while her Valkyries teammate Janelle Salaün is putting up 13.1 points, 3.8 rebounds and 1.2 assists across 34 appearances. Connecticut Sun’s Leïla Lacan is averaging 11.6 points, 2.0 rebounds and 4.7 assists over 25 games, while Pauline Astier (9.4 points, 2.4 rebounds, 3.4 assists in 37 games) and Marine Johannès (9.1 points, 2.1 rebounds, 2.5 assists in 34 games) add further depth. Monique Akoa Makani adds 9.0 points, 2.0 rebounds and 2.4 assists over 21 games.

In all, BeBasket’s database counts at least 13 French players who have seen real playing time in the WNBA this season — the names above plus Valériane Ayayi, Noémie Brochant, Marine Fauthoux, Nell Angloma, Tima Pouye and Ornella Bankole. And the Valkyries’ success isn’t just individual: Golden State clinched its playoff berth on August 17 with a 78-70 win over the Dallas Wings, pushing its record to 25-9 and second place in the league standings — the franchise’s second consecutive postseason appearance.

Williams and Salaün: two-way stardom and a sixth player race

Golden State’s rise this season carries the fingerprints of both its French players, each building a case in a different lane. Gabby Williams was named a starter for the 2026 WNBA All-Star Game, the league announcing the selection on July 2 — the first time in her career she has been chosen as a starter, after coming in as a reserve in 2025. A Mercury News feature published August 19 framed her as a potential two-way force, writing that Williams “might be the game’s best defender, but her offense is worthy of praise too,” and describing how her elite defense has overshadowed a genuine scoring breakout this season. Her teammate Janelle Salaün, who has played primarily off Golden State’s bench in 2026, has become the clear front-runner for the WNBA’s Sixth Player of the Year award, an honor given to a non-starter. A Yahoo Sports piece published August 12 declared the race “effectively over” in her favor against Sophie Cunningham, and BetMGM lists her as “the betting favorite” to win the trophy — though, with the season still to play out, the award itself has not yet been handed out.

Lacan’s career night in Connecticut

Leïla Lacan produced one of the individual highlights of the French season on July 17, scoring a career-high 26 points on 10-of-13 shooting from the field to lead the Connecticut Sun to a 96-83 win over the Phoenix Mercury, according to WNBA.com. The result handed Phoenix its fifth straight loss. The outburst stands as a season peak for Lacan, who is otherwise averaging 11.6 points, 2.0 rebounds and 4.7 assists across 25 games this year.

What’s left to watch down the stretch

None of this is finished business. Every WNBA team had 10 or fewer games remaining as of August 19, according to ESPN, with the regular season closing September 24 before playoffs begin. Golden State has already clinched a playoff berth for the 2026 postseason, per ESPN’s playoff tracker — but plenty of positioning, and plenty of individual races, remain unresolved.

With Malonga trending upward in Most Improved Player rankings and both players drawing award votes as of late July, the next month of games will be watched closely — not as an epilogue, but as the stretch run that could define how this French wave is remembered when the 2026 WNBA season finally does come to a close.