Seattle Storm Star Leaves WNBA After Her Caitlin Clark Revelation

The season is already over for the Seattle Storm after they were eliminated by the two-time defending champions Las Vegas Aces in the first round of the WNBA playoffs via a 2-0 sweep.

This means that players on the team who were under contract through this season have now become free agents and are able to pursue other opportunities if they so choose. As it turns out, this is exactly the case for All-Defensive forward Gabby Williams, who recently revealed that she is now heading back to Europe to play overseas.

Williams' WNBA departure did not come without controversy, though. The 28-year-old recently made headlines after refuting a statement by league commissioner Cathy Engelbert wherein the WNBA head honcho claimed that players earn up to $700,000 a year. According to Williams, there's simply no truth to this assertion.

"Our commissioner talked about us being able to make $700,000," Williams said during her end-of-season exit interview . "That's actually not true at all. There's not one player who makes that.

"We were promised team marketing agreements and league marketing agreements, but they've fallen quite short. So it's still not enough for us international players to want to stay here. And that's a choice of the players. If I make a choice to make more money, whatever, and then teams are mad that I don't come back, but that's how it is."

Williams drew some criticism after her statement, including that from a fan who claimed that Indiana Fever superstar Caitlin Clark has earned more than $700,000 in her debut season.

This prompted Williams to come up with a follow-up statement to explain that she was talking about WNBA salaries exclusively. The Storm forward also made a revelation about Clark's WNBA pay and her endorsement deals.

"Clark makes $70,000 in the WNBA," Williams said in a TikTok video . "So I know all these Caitlin Clark fans, whatever, like 'Caitlin Clark makes $700,000,' That's off of endorsements.

"I'm not talking about endorsements, I'm talking about the WNBA. And no, there is not one player in the entire WNBA that makes the money that the commissioner likes to brag about. And that was the point of that clip as well."

Williams also took flak for "complaining" about life in the WNBA, with some fans just telling her to leave if she wasn't happy with the pay structure in the league. Well, this is exactly what the 5-foot-11 forward did.

Williams was actually on a plane when she made her TikTok response video, and it turns out that she was on her way to Turkey to join Istanbul-based squad Fenerbahçe S.K.

This is not the first time Williams has chosen to play abroad. She has had stints in Italy, Hungary and France.

Last season, it wasn't until after the month-long Olympic break that Williams returned to the WNBA to sign with the Storm for the remainder of the season (she played just 10 games for Seattle in 2024). This could be the case again for her next year if she opts to return to the WNBA for the latter half of the campaign, assuming, of course, that there is interest from any team in the league.

In her TikTok, Williams also hinted at the possibility of making her move abroad a permanent one.

"If my season (in Turkey) ends in time that I can make it back for the WNBA, I'll see y'all next summer," she stated. "If not, you guys should follow (the) EuroLeague as well because there's a lot of great talent in Europe."

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