Stars in Paris, role players in WNBA Finals: How Olympic exposure helps

NEW YORK — Mention the Olympic Games, and Sabrina Ionescu can’t help but grin. 

It’s a small, private smile, she said, reserved for those who know how much went into the 26-year-old making her first senior Team USA roster. She helped the Americans bring home an unprecedented eighth consecutive gold medal. 

But other players in the WNBA Finals aren’t as shy about hiding their joy. Ask Alanna Smith about it, and the forward for the Minnesota Lynx smiles ear to ear, eager to talk about what it was like to play in her second consecutive Olympics.

The Liberty-Lynx championship series, where Minnesota holds a 1-0 lead after a come-from-behind 95-93 overtime win in Game 1 on Thursday in Barclays Center, features seven Olympians who played in Paris this summer representing America, Australia, Canada and Germany. (Include the semifinal teams and you’ve got 14 Olympians representing six countries.) 

While it’s easy to focus on the Olympic accomplishments of superstars like Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier, both of whom started for Team USA throughout the Games, it’s the non-superstars who might have benefitted the most from their turn on the global stage — players like Ionescu, Smith, Minnesota guard Bridget Carleton and New York forward Leonie Fiebich.

“I think I draw a lot from my Olympic experience and even Olympic qualifying throughout not just the Finals but the whole WNBA playoffs,” Carleton told USA TODAY Sports. “With qualifying, those are three really high-pressure games in four days, you’re playing against really good teams and for me, I’m in a position to be a go-to player for Canada. It’s intense — and I think any experience at that level is going to bode well for you.” 

Liberty coach Sandy Brondello agrees. Brondello has served as Australia’s coach since 2017 following a 17-year playing career with the Opals. She coached Smith in Paris as Australia won a surprise bronze, their first Olympic medal in 12 years. She said the benefits of Olympians now competing for a WNBA championship can’t be overstated.

“It really helps them a lot because at the Olympics, every game is important, every game is like a (series) final,” Brondello said. “And so they have that experience in the big moment.” 

Minnesota coach Cheryl Reeve — who led the Americans to gold in her first stint as Team USA’s head coach after two Olympics as an assistant — has talked candidly about putting a team together in Minnesota that wasn’t made up of standout individual talent but rather a group of solid players who excelled together. Two key pieces of that roster include Smith, who signed as a free agent after playing in Chicago last season, and Carleton, who has been with the Lynx for six years. 

Carleton got 15 of 67 Most Improved Player award votes after more than doubling her scoring output and assists numbers, and increasing her field goal percentage by more than nine points. Smith, who is athletic enough to guard players inside the paint and on the perimeter, earned second team All-Defense. She averaged a career high in blocks and steals, and had the second-best rebounding season of her career. 

“It sounds very American of me, but (the) WNBA is (the) best league in the world, talent-wise, so when they’re exposed to that and playing against it, (then) coming over and playing in the league, it helps grow the game individually and in their countries,” Reeve said. 

Ionescu is having a career year for the Liberty, but had much more of a supporting role in Paris. She played just 10 minutes in the final, and didn’t score. But she delivered three perfect passes when she subbed in during the third quarter, each of which her teammates converted to buckets in their 67-66 win over France. 

The Olympics are a good reminder, Ionescu said, that hard work always pays off, even if it takes longer than you anticipate. It also reinforces the importance of every single contribution, no matter how small. 

Some players aren’t as quick to draw a line from national team success to WNBA success, though. 

Fiebich, a breakout star for the Liberty, said she tries to keep her national team responsibilities separate from what she does for New York, because her role on each team is so different. 

In Paris, Fiebich averaged 10.3 points and 3.5 rebounds for an upstart Germany team that made its first knockout round in its Olympic debut. A 24-year-old rookie — she was drafted in 2020 but didn’t sign a contract to come to New York until this season — Fiebich finished as runner-up for Sixth Woman of the Year. She was also named to the All-Rookie team. 

Smith said the biggest difference between the Olympics and WNBA is that FIBA ball is punishably physical, forcing players to finish through contact. 

“As someone who’s foreign and didn’t grow up in the States — I went to college and that gave me a taste of American basketball — being able to play American style and then go to the international game really helps you learn how to adjust to different styles,” said Smith, who was named to the FIBA All-Star Five in Paris after averaging 11.5 points, 8.0 rebounds and 2.2 assists. 

She’s inspired by the Olympics, too. 

Smith knows most people drool over a big-time 3 or a crazy midrange jumper at the buzzer. But true to her defensive roots, Smith’s favorite Olympic moment came in the bronze-medal game, when teammate Steph Talbot — a member of the Los Angeles Sparks — blocked what would have been a tying 3-pointer from Belgium late. 

“That sticks in my mind so much,” Smith said. “It was a huge play that kept our momentum going.” 

That’s the type of impact Smith envisions making for her team. And if she can’t do it at the Olympics, she’ll settle for doing it in the WNBA Finals.