Last Saturday in Dallas, Kayla McBride and Satou Sabally played in the same professional basketball game, much like they have done dozens of times before. That afternoon, they did so as opponents—McBride, as a leading guard for the Lynx, and Sabally, a centerpiece of the Wings.
Six days earlier, the two had both starred in another contest. That game was set in Mersin, Turkey, around 7,000 miles from College Park Center. McBride and Sabally had suited up as teammates with Fenerbaçhe Safiport in the women’s Turkish Cup finals.
Such abrupt transitions are not necessarily abnormal for professional women’s basketball players. And due to numerous players going abroad when the W season concludes (roughly half the league’s played overseas in 2022 as the financial benefits can be lucrative), players have grown familiar with such quick turnarounds, whether days-long or weeks-long, for themselves or for their teammates.
