Gabby Williams wins the 2026 Alain Gilles Trophy after a close vote

In a pocket handkerchief. The Alain Gilles Trophy has never been so close, with several players who could legitimately claim to succeed Valériane Ayayi in 2026. We had to wait for the last vote to decide between the first two in the ranking! In the end, it was Gabby Williams who was rewarded. Remember that the Alain Gilles Trophy has been awarded each year, since 2015, to the best French player or the best French player of the past season. The winner is chosen by the public (one vote) and a jury made up of basketball and media personalities, including Le Figaro. The result was revealed this Friday in Lyon.

Already rewarded in 2024, after winning silver at the Paris Olympic Games and this final lost... by a very small point with the French team, Gabby Williams is only the second personality to pocket this trophy twice after Nando De Colo, in 2015 and 2016.

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Aged 30, the player from Fenerbahçe and Golden State (WNBA) was particularly successful on the Old Continent, winning the Euroleague, the championship and the Turkish Cup, winning the title of best defender in the Euroleague and a place in the second major five of the competition. His averages? 12.3 points and 4.7 rebounds in the Euroleague and 14.3 points and 3.3 rebounds in the WNBA. More than solid...

Almost on top of the world

But it is also (and above all?) her XXL performances in the French team which allowed the new captain of the Blues to get the best of her many competitors for the 2026 Alain Gilles Trophy. Gabby Williams indeed guided the national selection to the final of the 2026 World Cup, a few weeks ago, in Germany. With 18.7 points, 4.8 rebounds, 4 assists and 2.8 steals per game on average, for an evaluation of 22.8, the native of Sparks in Nevada inherited the title of best defender of the tournament and was invited to the best five of the tournament along with the Americans Breanna Stewart (MVP) and Jackie Young, the Spaniard Iyana Martin and the German Leonie Fiebich.

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Gabby Williams notably beat Victor Wembanyama, best defender of the season in the NBA, third in the votes for the MVP title (best player, behind the Canadian Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Serbian Nikola Jokic) and unfortunate finalist with the San Antonio Spurs. The giant (2.24m) from Chesnay is now undeniably one of the best players on the planet, he who also shone and assumed his new status with Freddy Fauthoux's Blues during the second window of the summer.

Fournier and Lacan not far from the mark

Winner of the Euroleague, MVP of the Final Four, champion of Greece and MVP of the finals with Olympiakos, Evan Fournier also had a great winning face, just like Leïla Lacan (MVP of the season and finals in Boulangère Wonderligue, champion of France, Ideal Five of the Euroleague…), who shone with Basket Landes, Connecticut (WNBA) and of course the French team at the World Cup, alongside Gabby Williams. Sylvain Francisco (ex-Kaunas) and Élie Okobo (ex-Monaco) also presented serious arguments. But the boss in 2026 is Gabby Williams.