Olympic medalist Gabby Williams re-signs with Storm for playoff push

Olympic silver medalist and WNBA free agent Gabby Williams signed a rest-of-season contract with the Seattle Storm, the team announced on Tuesday. Williams, a former UConn star who played for France and nearly sent the gold medal game to overtime against Team USA, was named the Olympics best defensive player and named to the All-Star Five.

Williams played for the Storm in 2022 and part of 2023, but opted to remain with her French national team in the lead-up to the Olympics this spring. She is the face of the prioritization clause in the WNBA, a controversial part of the collective bargaining agreement that suspends players who do not arrive to training camp on time. Many WNBA players still spend their offseasons playing on clubs overseas, where playoffs can bleed into the WNBA season.

The 5-foot-11 forward was able to sign with a team this season despite missing training camp because she was a free agent who finished her offseason playing obligation before the start of the WNBA regular season. Williams played in the French league, which usually extends past the start of the W season. This year, the league scheduled its season to end earlier for players to get ready for the Paris Olympics.

Though the signing happened to fall on trade deadline day, teams can sign free agents until the final day of the regular season at a pro-rated minimum. Williams, who played in Chicago from 2018-2020, signed a pro-rated vet minimum for the final month of the season. Seattle had $24,195 in cap space, per Her Hoop Stats, and had to wait until Tuesday to sign Williams at $23,491.

The Storm (17-10) went 0-2 in the first weekend after the WNBA’s All-Star/Olympic break. It dropped them out of fourth in the race for hosting duties. Seattle finishes its three-game road trip at Washington on Tuesday. Williams will re-join the team in Seattle next week, the team said in a release. The Storm host the Mystics on Monday, the Dream on Wednesday and the league-leading Liberty on Friday.

This post will be updated.