Sabrina Ionescu’s Liberty Teammate Makes Major National Announcement

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Matt De Lima | Last updated May 21, 2025 3:51 PM ET

FIBA Women's EuroBasket dates back to 1938. The international competition is scheduled every two seasons and will tip off next month with 16 European nations participating.

On Wednesday, France's Marine Johannes announced she would not participate in this year's tournament via a social media post on Instagram. (Note: Johannes' message has been translated from French to English.)

"After some much needed time to think, I have finally made the decision not to participate in the European Championships this summer.

This was definitely not an easy choice to make, but seems to be the right one today. All the best to all team France... with the most beautiful of medals to go for! ❤️"

The 30-year-old member of the New York Liberty returned to international play during the 2024 Paris Olympics, where she was part of France's silver medal team, which lost to the United States in the gold medal game.

She did not play in the WNBA in 2024 to instead focus on playing with the French national team in the Olympics.

From 2017 to 2021, Johannes won three consecutive silver medals in EuroBasket. She did not play in the 2023 EuroBasket to focus on playing in the WNBA. Johannes did not play for the Liberty in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic and did not play in 2021 due to her commitments to play EuroBasket and in the Olympics.

In March, the Liberty announced they had re-signed Johannes for the 2025 season. Last week, she played 15 minutes against the Las Vegas Aces, contributing two points, one rebound, one assist and one block in a 92-78 win.

Expectations are high for the Liberty after last season's WNBA title, the franchise's first. N.Y. is led by Breanna Stewart and Sabrina Ionescu, who combined to average more than 38 points per game last season.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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