Opals Star Bec Allen has kept the door ajar for a return to Australia’s domestic women’s basketball competition after ending a glittering 11-year tenure in the WNBA.
The 33-year-old’s decision to leave the top women’s basketball competition in the world has raised questions about whether she is preparing to finish her career back home in the WNBL.
“It’s something that I’m not saying a hard no on. Right now the answer is no, purely because my body just needs rest,” Allen told AAP.
“After a year, maybe I’ll get a call from Cheryl [Chambers] or a good friend like that, and I’ll jump back in and play in Geelong or something like that.
“I just know that I want to be in Melbourne.Â
“I want to be in Australia and you can’t say a hard no to anything.”
Allen has a sparkling history in Australia’s top domestic league, debuting with the Dandenong Rangers in the 2010-2011 campaign and playing in the competition until 2016.
She claimed the league’s Defensive Player of the Year award in 2014, before signing her first WNBA contract with the New York Liberty in 2015.
The WNBL’s chief operations officer, Justin Nelson, said he had no doubt some clubs had inquired about securing her signature.
“Bec is an incredible role model, an incredible athlete. She’s done so much for girls and women in basketball,” he told AAP.
Bec Allen was a member of the Opals squad at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. (Getty Images: Ethan Miller)
“All of the fans around Australia would love nothing better than to see her playing in the WNBL, and if the league or I can do anything to help make that happen, we’d love to see Bec playing.”
Allen has plans to become a player agent and pursue commentary, but the Tokyo Olympian is currently relishing in some much-deserved rest, having represented the Connecticut Sun, Phoenix Mercury and Chicago Sky before coming back to New York for one final season in 2026.
Reuniting with her past team proved the right move as Allen won the WNBA Commissioner’s Cup in June and reached the semi-finals last month.
“My first [WNBA season] was in 2015, and I had impostor syndrome at the beginning, and then I got to realise after years that, hey, I belong here,” Allen said.
“I never thought that when I started, I’d play 11 years in the league.
“Body, mind, heart … I’ve given the game all of myself in those capacities, and so now it’s time for the next chapter.”
AAP
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