A little over a year ago, Sydney Taylor had just scored 55 points across two games, making nine 3-pointers, earning 16 free throws and shooting almost 45 percent from the field.
Surely, such a scoring showcase was grabbing women’s hoops headlines?
Nope, playing for the Polish club MB Zagłębie Sosnowiec and competing in EuroCup Women, Taylor’s offensive earthquakes did not register among the majority of US-based fans. Neither did her 35-point showing on almost 60 percent shooting in mid-December, nor
her 38-point outburst in January, where she shot almost 80 percent on 2-pointers and earned 17 free throws.
Instead, it would be about six more months until Sydney Taylor’s name became widely known stateside.
Signed by the Chicago Sky ahead of training camp, Taylor dropped 27 points in her fifth-career WNBA game, and as our Zachary Draves recently documented, the performance proved to be just a preview for what would become a stellar rookie season, when Taylor would emerge as a fan favorite and All-Rookie selection in an otherwise too-familiar underwhelming Sky season.
Taylor will not be going back to Poland this offseason.
Instead, she’ll be in Miami, joining Lunar Owls for Season 3of Unrivaled.
However, Taylor’s ascendance reminds that in Poland or other European locales, there are women’s basketball talents who, quietly plying their trades, could soon prove that they too belong in the WNBA. Taylor is their avatar, although she was far from the only WNBA player who, given a fair shot in the league, proved their worth in 2026.
There was Pauline Astier, a key player for traditional EuroLeague Women power ZVVZ USK Praha who became the starting point guard for the New York Liberty. Two experienced EuroLeaguers in Valériane Ayayi and María Conde made their long-awaited WNBA return and debut, respectively, contributing to the Phoenix Mercury and Toronto Tempo. Laura Juskaite, who also emerged as a key piece for Toronto, had suited up for a number of EuroCup or EuroLeague clubs since 2019. The same is true of Antonio Delaere, who served as bench piece for the Minnesota Lynx.
Expect more WNBA teams than ever to look for hidden gems who are hooping overseas.
That the Golden State Valkyries, a team that prioritized depth, and built that depth with players who had been underrated or overlooked, are champions should only further encourage other organizations to invest more intentionally in identifying players, whether in the EuroLeague, the EuroCup or European domestic leagues, who could be key contributors, or even more, in the WNBA.
Through four weeks of play in both the EuroLeague and EuroCup competitions, who are some players that should be attracting a closer look? Although far from the only candidates, these three players, two of whom have gotten a sliver of a chance in the WNBA, are thus far making convincing cases.
Shyanne Sellers (UMCS Lublin)
A top prospect in 2025 WNBA Draft, Shyanne Sellers’ spot in the league seemed in little doubt.
Yet, she fell to the No. 17 overall pick before being surprisingly cut by the Valkyries. She then could not convert a training camp opportunity with the Atlanta Dream into a roster spot. Ahead of the 2026 season, a training camp stint with the Dallas Wings also ended with a waiver.
Sellers took her talents to the UpShot League, suiting up for the Jacksonville Waves, the inaugural season runners up. While Sellers’ numbers were nothing special, her performance, plus her pedigree, was enough to encourage the Los Angeles Sparks to sign her to a late-season development contract. She ended up seeing time in two games, totaling 21 minutes, four points, two rebounds, two assists and two steals.
Sellers’ Sparks stint did little to suggest she’d be back in the WNBA in 2027.
Yet, playing for UMCS Lublin in the EuroLeague, Sellers might be proving that her pro potential is still there.
While Lublin is 1-3, currently putting them in last place in Group D and at risk of elimination from the competition, Sellers is averaging almost 18 points per game on 50 percent shooting, including 40 percent from 3. She’s adding 4.5 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game, as well as nearly two steals. She’s also shooting over 90 percent from the free throw line. The one blemish is her three turnovers per game.
Nevertheless, that’s the statistical profile of the player she was thought to be coming out of Maryland.
The shooting, in particular, is crucial. After never shooting better than 34.7 percent from 3 across her first three seasons at Maryland, she jumped to 40 percent as a senior. An efficient shooter from distance who also can handle the ball, drive to the basket and earn repeated trips to the line—all at 6-foot-2—is a WNBA player. However, as Sellers is not a great athlete, with those deficits appearing to doom her early attempts to stick in the W, all those offensive pieces need to be in place for her to be of value to a WNBA team.
Thus far, her EuroLeague experience with Lublin has reintroduced this outcome.
Aliyah Collier (KKŽ Crvena Zvezda)
If Aliyah Collier gets a WNBA chance, it would be the culmination of an incredible rise for the former Clemson product who averaged less than 10 points per game and wasn’t even a starter for the Tigers as a senior back in 2019.
Since then, she’s played professionally in Portugal, Finland, Iceland and China. Her perseverance has paid off, as she earned an opportunity with the Serbian club, KKŽ Crvena Zvezda, which qualified for the EuroLeague for the first time in 36 years this season.
Impressively, the club already has secured a spot in the competition’s second round, and Collier is a significant reason why.
She is the club’s leading scorer at 13.8 points, as the 6-foot-0 and 29-year-old guard has shot almost 53 percent from the field, nearly 48 percent from 3 and 87.5 percent from the line across four EuroLeague and two qualification games. Those numbers are probably unsustainable, but, even with a dip, she’s provided enough evidence to believe in her shot. Possessing a strong frame, Collier can also get after it on the glass, averaging 5.5 boards per game. She’s also averaging three steals per game.
A guard with good size who shoots efficiently and adds value on the defensive end? Sounds like the outline of an intriguing player.
Aubrey Griffin (TTT Riga)
Drafted by the Minnesota Lynx at No. 37 overall in the 2025 WNBA Draft, Aubrey Griffin elected to sit out what would have been her rookie season to recover from the lingering injuries that interrupted her career at UConn.
She, however, never got an opportunity to officially suit up for the Lynx, waived before the 2026 season. The New York Liberty picked her up on a hardship deal to begin the season. She saw action in four games, totaling less than eight minutes, two points and a rebound.
A 6-foot-1 elite athlete with the UConn stamp, Griffin’s WNBA appeal is obvious. Except the offensive end has always been a problem. Griffin lacks anything close to a credible jumper, causing her to cramp her team in the offensive halfcourt.
Yet, despite the fact that WNBA reached new offensive heights in 2026, the Finals were a rock fight—the kind of series where Griffin would have fit right in. She’s always done all the things on the margins that contribute to winning basketball.
For TTT Riga, a Latvian-based club competing in the EuroCup, Griffin has been empowered, as is thriving. She’s the do-it-all engine for the 2-2 club, and one of the best players in the competition. Griffin’s 23 points per game are good for third overall, while she leads the competition in FIBA’s efficiency metric.
She’s shooting over 68 percent from the field, in addition to an encouraging 87.5 percent on free throws. That’s a mark aided by her most-recent 12-for-12 performance from the line in TTT Riga’s 80-75 win over Elitzur Ramle. Overall, Griffin finished with a 26-point and 12-rebound double-double in that one, following up her 27-point and 13-rebound double-double from the game prior.
Griffin’s collecting 10.3 rebounds per game, plus 2.8 steals and 1.3 blocks per game. She also has debuted some playmaking chops, with 4.5 assists per game.
A national champion at UConn who is producing overseas, Griffin seems almost guaranteed to get an invitation to a WNBA training camp.
