British basketball players to play in the WNBA (2024)

British players to make the WNBA are few and far between, with just five having graced the hardwood since the league’s inception in 1997.

Of those five, only two grew up in England, with the other three representing Great Britain through a passport via their parents or being born here before departing very young (find the Brits who have made the NBA here).

Here are the five Brits to have played in the WNBA:

Andrea Congreaves

Considered the greatest women’s player to ever come out of the UK, Andrea Congreaves had a sixteen-year pro career, was the first Brit to play in the WNBA, and won titles all over Europe after an absolutely dominant college career at Mercer.

Her time at Mercer saw her lead NCAA Division 1 in scoring in her Junior and Senior years (33.0 and 31.0ppg respectively), whilst being named an All-American in 1993.

From there, the 6’2″ ‘shooting forward’ as she likes to label herself, turned pro in Italy, before signing with Valencia in Spain where she won the first of multiple domestic titles across Europe.

She got selected by the Charlotte Sting with the 26th pick of the inaugural WNBA draft, playing 3 seasons in the WNBA, two with the Sting and one with Orlando Miracle, starting 58 of her 84 games – at a time when there were only 8 teams in the league.

Congreaves scored exactly 500 points in the league.

She played her debut game on June 22, 1997 and helped the Sting to a 15-13 record and made the playoffs but was eliminated in the semi-finals by the Houston Comets.

The next season, Congreaves played less minutesher rookie season (going from 23.5 to 15.5 minutes per game) and thus had lower productivity across the board. However, she was still able to average 4.3 points, 3 rebounds and 1.5 assists and helped the Sting improve to a 18 – 12 record.

On April 6, 1999, Congreaves was selected in the 1999 Expansion Draft and became a member of the newly formed Orlando Miracle. She started in all 32 games of the season and averaged the highest minutes per game of her career (25.4).

Even though the Miracle won 5 of their last 6 season games, they finished the season 15 – 17 and fell short of the playoff picture (making it Congreaves’ first time missing the playoffs).

Congreaves did not play again in the WNBA after the 1999 season, but she would repeatedly sign contracts with the Miracle and then get subsequently waived by the team.

Congreaves won titles in France, Spain, the UK along with multiple Euroleague Final Four appearances (runners up twice).

Having made her England senior debut at 17 years old in 1987, she picked up 40 caps for England and 15 for GB, and also went on represent Great Britain 20 years later for the reformation of the programme.

Congreaves won a Commonwealth Games Gold medal in 1991 and bronze in 2006 – where she led the team in scoring at 36 years old.

Temi Fagbenle

Temi Fagbenle continues to be in the midst of an impressive career as a pro which could see her topple Andrea Congreaves as the greatest of all time.

The only Brit to win a WNBA Championship, in 2017 with the Minnesota Lynx, she was selected with the 35th overall pick in the 2016 WNBA draft.

Born in America, she moved to the UK when she was 2, starting her basketball career with the illustrious Haringey Angels basketball club in North London. At 15 she moved to the US at Blair Academy in New Jersey – where she was a McDonald’s All-American, before attending Harvard, and then USC for a masters.

She represented England and GB at under-16, 18 and 20 levels, before being called up the Senior side for the London 2012 Olympics.

Fagbenle has completed three seasons in the WNBA with Minnesota from 2017-2019, and has signed with Indiana Fever for the 2024 season.

In the 2019 season with the Lynx she averaged 5.4 points and 2.9 rebounds on 51.9% shooting in just 15 minutes per game.

She had a WNBA career-high 14 points on 7/9 shooting in under 19 minutes against Indiana on August 3rd 2019.

Mikiah ‘Kiki’ Herbert Harrigan

Kiki Herbert Harrigan was selected 6th overall in the 2020 WNBA draft by the Minnesota Lynx.

She had an esteemed college career finishing second in blocked shots in South Carolina Gamecocks’ program history and was one of only three players to amass over 1,000 points and 200 blocks in their careers. She averaged 13.1 points and 5.6 rebounds per game as a senior while shooting 50.6% overall and 43.5% on three-pointers.

Born in the British overseas territory of Anguilla in the Caribbean, but raised in Florida, she finished her WNBA rookie season playing in 21 games averaging 3.8 ppg and shooting 42.2% from 3.

On February 10, 2021, Harrigan would be traded from the Lynx to the Seattle Storm for a 2022 first-round pick.

Harrigan would only play 1 game during the 2021 WNBA season with the Seattle Storm and missed the rest of the season due to becoming pregnant and was approved to have paid maternity leave.

On May 4, 2022 (two days before the season was set to start) Harrigan was waived by the Storm and would go on to not play for any team during the 2022 season.

She came to the UK, dominating with the London Lions in the WBBL, picking up MVP honours, before departing ahead of the playoffs to attend Connecticut Suns’ training camp, but was waived before the season started.

Kristine Anigwe

Kristine Anigwe was born in London before being raised in Phoenix, Arizona.

She represented the USA as Under-17 and Under-19 level but made the switch to the Great Britain Senior Women’s team in 2023.

After a standout college career with California before being selected ninth overall in the 2019 WNBA draft by the Connecticut Sun.

The 6’4″ centre split her rookie season between Connecticut and Dallas after being traded in August Theresa Plaisance.

On May 26, 2020, Anigwe was traded to the Los Angeles Sparks in exchange for a second-round 2021 draft pick.

After spending time with both the Wings and Sparks in 2021, Anigwe was signed by her hometown Phoenix Mercury ahead of the 2022 WNBA season.

On July 3, 2023, Anigwe was waived from the Chicago Sky, re-joining the Connecticut Sun.

She scored a WNBA career-high 14 points against New York (2020).

Karlie Samuelson

Like her sister Bonnie, Karlie Samuelson chose to play internationally for the Great Britain women’s national basketball team, using her mother’s nationality.

She was born in London but raised in LA, heading off to play in college at Stanford University alongside older sister Bonnie, before going undrafted in the 2017 WNBA draft.

Despite going undrafted, she joined the Los Angeles Sparks for the 2017 season and played 3 pre-season games, but a fractured left foot suffered during training camp made the team waive her.

After time abroad in Italy, she re-signed with the Los Angeles Sparks for the 2018 WNBA season where she made the final roster. Samuelson made her WNBA debut on the 20th of May against the Minnesota Lynx scoring 3 points in 13 minutes of playing time, and ultimately appeared in 20 games of the 2018 season and 2 playoff games, averaging 4.2 minutes per game.

After being waived during the Sparks training camp, Samuelson joined them late in the 2019 WNBA season, following her performance in the EuroBasket Women 2019 with GB.

In August 2019, she joined the Dallas Wings but wound up waived before the season begun, signing in Spain.

Karlie signed again with the Sparks in 2021, but after being released in August, she rejoined the Seattle Storm.

In May 2022, the Phoenix Mercury signed Samuelson to a hardship contract, and then she joined the LA Sparks for the 2023 season.

She scored a WNBA career-high 15 points in August 2023 for LA Sparks against Phoenix.

After a season with the London Lions in the WBBL and EuroCup in 2023-24, Washington Mystics announced they were signing her in February.