A basketball player Awak Kuier returns to the national team jersey after a year’s break, when he leads Finland to the 2025 European Championship qualifiers this week.
Last spring, Kuieri missed the previous international matches when he suffered from symptoms of overexertion. At that time, Kuier had played for two and a half years practically without holidays. Now Kuier returns to the national team and has practically played for three years without longer breaks.
Is it tiring?
– Of course it’s tiring. However, there haven’t been too many breaks. Fatigue is starting to show little by little. However, the passion for basketball has remained. In that sense, fatigue is not terribly harmful, Kuier describes.
Kuieri has her third career WNBA season in the Dallas Wings jersey. From there, this fall he continued playing in the Italian premier league in the ranks of Reyer Venezia.
Last summer on the North American floor was the best of the 22-year-old Finn’s career. Kuier flashed by setting his match-specific point records. He also made it to the starting five for the first time. Kuier was in the starting five a total of four times during the season.
Perhaps the best game of the season hit the right spot in the playoffs. He came off the bench against the Atlanta Dream and scored 13 points in 20 minutes. Kuier played a significant role when Dallas grabbed a spot in the WNBA semifinals for the first time in club history. In them, the champion team Las Vegas Aces was stronger.
Although there were flashes from Kuieri, the averages were still in the same range as in the previous two seasons.
Kuier is proud of his development over the course of the season, even if it wasn’t directly reflected in the statistics.
– Even though the statistics were pretty much the same, there was quite a lot of self-confidence on the mental side, says Kuier.
The new head coach of Dallas, much talked about in North America during the summer Latricia Trammell played his Finnish promise also interestingly. The natural reason was teammates’ injuries. However, sometimes the responsibility and playing time varied even without the help of teammates.
According to Kuieri, in addition to other injuries, the fluctuating playing time was influenced by whether he succeeded in training or not.
According to Suomalainen, the changing responsibility affected the performances especially from the beginning of the season.
– It was really difficult to concentrate in the early season. You had to be ready for it all the time, if there was any playing time or not. It was a bit difficult mentally in the early season. However, I got used to it at the end of the season. If I got more playing time, I focused and I was able to play really well, says Kuier.
Kuier had received positive feedback from head coach Trammell after the season.
– He was really proud. He really liked me as a player. He told me how proud he was of me. I was able to play really well when I got more playing time. I was able to do what I needed to do on the field, Kuier opens.
In Italy, Kuier has made it to the highlight videos right away this fall. The Finn has, among other things, had a block party with no less than seven saves in one Eurocup match. In addition to that, Kuier solved one victory last week by dropping the ball into the basket when the final buzzer sounded.
– In the WNBA, Awak’s role was very varied. It’s hard to see development from that. However, the early season in Europe has shown how versatile the athlete is. On some days, Awak dominated on the offensive end. Some days he shines on the defensive end, the head coach of the Finnish women’s national team Ilkka Palviainen says.
A tough decision soon ahead: WNBA or Europe?
Last season, Kuier reached the semi-finals with Venezia in Europe’s second-highest club team competition, the Eurocup. They also reached the same level in the Italian premier league.
Now, going into the national team break, Venezia is leading the Italian league. Venezia has won six matches out of six.
The Finn may be facing a tight spot this season. Like Kuier, many female basketball players work year-round, so that the summer season is spent in North America and the winter season is spent on European courts. However, the WNBA has tightened its rules so that they are trying to curb playing in Europe.
Next year, everyone who plans to play in the WNBA must be present on the first day of training camp. Otherwise, you may not play during the entire season.
Last year, the finals were still played in Italy when training camps started in the WNBA. Kuier says that he talked about it with his agent.
– Tried to see how the matter could be handled. However, there is no concrete answer to this, Kuier states.
According to Kuieri, there are still a couple of months before decisions should be made one way or the other.
What would you like to do then? Do you want to continue in Europe or go to the Yankees?
– The goal is to play in the Euroleague. That has always been my goal. I have enjoyed playing in Dallas and the WNBA, but I have a Euroleague goal in Europe. I have to keep that in mind, Kuier answers and refers to the competition for Europe’s number one club team.
Head coach Palviainen does not want to take a position on what would be the right choice for Kuieri. However, he sees that the WNBA’s decision also makes sense in the current situation.
– This current combination, where we play all year round, doesn’t leave an awful lot of opportunity for recovery and developing training. It leads to the player not being able to develop and reach their potential, says Kuier.
One of the biggest reasons for women’s basketball players to play year-round has been money. The toughest WNBA stars have been able to get paid more on European courts than in North America.
– Men often make a living from playing in the NBA. The women, on the other hand, also end up playing in Europe. If I could support myself by playing only in the WNBA, I would have considered more seriously going to college with the Yankees and then aiming for the WNBA, Kuier thought in January 2020 while playing in Sicily.
Finland opens the EC qualifiers on Thursday with an away match in Bulgaria. On Sunday, the next home game in Urhea-halli will be the summer EC semi-final team Hungary. In recent years, the Finnish women’s national basketball team has not been able to celebrate many victories. Finland has won only one of its previous 20 qualifying games. In November 2020, Portugal won.
However, according to Kuier, Finland realistically sees that they can take two victories in this qualifying window.
– I have spoken with all the players, and the goal is to win both games. We have good opportunities for that, says Kuier.
The first place in each qualifying group and the best four from the second group, i.e. a total of 16 teams, can enter the 2025 European Championship. Hosts Italy, Greece, Czech Republic and Germany have been placed in the same I-qualifying group and they are automatically included in the games.