Liberty Sign German Prospect to Rookie Contract

The New York Liberty have once again dipped into the international pool.

May 25, 2023; Los Angeles, California, USA; Wilson official basketball with WNBA logo goes through the net during the game between the LA Sparks and the Las Vegas Aces at Crypto.com Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

The New York Liberty hope that German lightning strikes "dreiman" in their pursuit of another WNBA Finals win.

The WNBA transactions page revealed that the defending champion Liberty signed German prospect Annika Soltau to a rookie scale contract. Soltau is the third German-born player on the current Liberty roster, joining Leonie Fiebich and Nyara Sabally, each of whom played major roles on last postseason's title trek.

A 6-4 forward, Soltau was previously committed to the University of Washington before opting to go pro and enjoying a breakthrough showing at the Nike Hoop Summit in Portland. After struggling to find a role with Spanish club Gernika KESB, she most recently repped Baden Basket 54 in Switzerland, as she averaged 21.1 points and 9.5 rebounds in 14 appearances.

Next to her club work, Soltau has also repped Germany's international amateur clubs. Soltau appeared on a list of 20 top European stars under 20 years old in a January list compiled by Paul Nilsen on FIBA's official site. That list also featured Dominique Malonga (France/Seattle), Juste Jocyte (Lithuania/Golden State), and Ajsa Sivka (Slovenia/Chicago), all of who received first-round calls at the WNBA Draft earlier this month.

Of note, Soltau was the leading scorer at 20.3 points per game at the 2022
FIBA U17 Women's Basketball World Cup in Hungary, where she beat out Malonga and UConn star Jana El-Alfy for the points honor and the MVP was current USC star JuJu Watkins. She could be in contention to appear on the primary team's roster next to Fiebich and Sabally when it hosts the 2026 Women's Basketball World Cup.

In addition to Soltau's deal, WNBA transactions also confirmed that Raquel Carrera and Seehia Ridard opted not to partake in the 2025 season. Carrera was a 2021 second-round pick of Atlanta while Ridard had signed with the team in March.

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