Cecilia Zandalasini (; born 16 March 1996) is an Italian basketball player for the Golden State Valkyries of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) and for Famila Basket Schio of the Lega Basket Femminile. She also plays for the Italian national team. She was the MVP of 2016 FIBA Europe Under-20 Championship for Women.
Early life Zandalasini was born on 16 March 1996 in Broni, Italy. She is the daughter of Roberto Zandalasini and Paola Lombardi. While playing with Geas Basket, she won six Italian youth club championships.
Professional career
Europe
Geas Basket (2013–14) At the age of 17, Zandalasini played as a guard under Geas Basket for the 2013–14 season. She led the team in points with a total of 314 across 20 games (15.7 PPG).
PF Schio (2014–2018) Zandalasini has played with PF Schio since 2014. In Zandalasini's third season with the team in 2016–17, the team won the Coppa Italia and reached the Serie A1 playoff finals. The team continued to the EuroLeague postseason, where Zandalasini had a team high 13.5 PPG.
Fenerbahçe (2018–2021)
On 4 July 2018, she had signed a two-year deal with the Turkish women's basketball club, Fenerbahçe.
Virtus Bologna (2021–2024) On 5 May 2021, Zandalasini signed a two-year deal with the Italian women's basketball club Virtus Bologna.La Virtus Bologna ufficializza Cecilia Zandalasini: Felice di tornare e vestire questa maglia, Sportando Despite good premises, in November 2021 the team was eliminated in the group stage of the EuroCup.EuroCup Women – Carolo sbanca Bologna, Virtus eliminata, Basket Inside On 19 April 2022, during the national semi-finals against Reyer Venezia, Lino Lardo was fired and his assistant Angela Gianolla became the new head coach.Virtus Bologna femminile, decisione a sopresa: Lino Lardo non è più il capo allenatore, BolognaToday The team ousted Reyer Venezia by 2–1 in the national semi-finals, reaching the finals for the first time in its history and qualifying for the EuroLeague Women. However, Virtus was defeated 3–1 by Famila Schio.Serie A1 femminile, il Famila Schio è Campione d'Italia: battuta la Virtus Bologna 69–84, Bologna Today
In the following season, Virtus played for the first time in the EuroLeague Women, but it was ousted in the regular season with a winning record of 5–9.EuroLeague Women, il percorso della Virtus Bologna si chiude con l'USK Praga. BolognaToday The club ended the Italian championship's season at the first place but, once again, it lost the national finals against Famila Schio by 2–0.Basket femminile, Virtus battuta, Schio è campione d'Italia. la Repubblica
Galatasaray (2024–2025) On 24 July 2024, Zandalasini signed with Galatasaray of the Turkish Women's Basketball Super League (TKBL). Galatasaray club said goodbye to the player on 28 May 2025, by publishing a thank you message.
Second stint with PF Schio (2025–present) In 2025, Zandalasini returned to Schio.
WNBA
Minnesota Lynx (2017–2018) With only three games left in their 2017 regular season, the Minnesota Lynx signed Zandalasini as an unrestricted free agent on 28 August 2017. Zandalasini was only able to play 18:37 of the remainder of the regular season and 11 during the playoffs, which the Lynx won.
On 7 February 2018, it was announced that the Lynx would re-sign Zandalasini for the 2018 season. Zandalasini became a breakout player during the season after a buzzer-beating play against the New York Liberty in their 16 June game. She has subsequently seen more minutes of play, establishing herself as a fit for the sixth woman role.
Zandalasini did not play with the Lynx during their 2019 season due to her international team commitments and an ankle injury.
On 29 February 2020, the Lynx announced they would re-sign Zandalasini for the 2020 season in a non-disclosed deal. However she did not play any games for the Lynx during the shortened 2020 season.
Minnesota Lynx second stint (2024)
On April 19, 2024, Zandalasini signed with a training camp contract with the Minnesota Lynx. On 14 May, it was announced that she made the final roster.
Golden State Valkyries (2025–present) On 6 December 2024, Zandalasini was selected as the Golden State Valkyries' pick from the Minnesota Lynx' roster in the 2024 WNBA expansion draft.
On April 7, 2026, she signed a one-year deal with the Golden State Valkyries, ahead of the 2026 WNBA season.
National team career At EuroBasket Women 2017 she averaged 19.0 points (2nd in event) and 9.6 rebounds (3rd in event) and earned a spot on the All-Tournament Team. Jeff Taylor of FIBA.com called her performance "the greatest FIBA EuroBasket Women debut of all time".
Career statistics
†Denotes seasons in which Zandalasini won a WNBA championship
WNBA Regular season
|style="text-align:left;background:#afe6ba;"| 2017† | align="left" | Minnesota | 3 || 0 || 6.3 || .250 ||—||—|| 0.3 || 0.0 || 0.0 || 0.0 || 0.7 || 0.7 |- | align="left" | 2018 | align="left" | Minnesota | 29 || 6 || 16.5 || .409 || .383 || .840 || 1.9 || 1.1 || 0.3 || 0.0 || 1.1 || 5.7 |- class="sortbottom" | align="left" | 2019 | colspan=13 align="center" | Did not appear in league |- class="sortbottom" | align="left" | 2020 | colspan=13 align="center" | Did not appear in league (opted out) |- class="sortbottom" | align="left" | 2021 | rowspan=3 colspan=13 align="center" | Did not appear in league |- class="sortbottom" | align="left" | 2022 |- class="sortbottom" | align="left" | 2023 |- | align="left" | | align="left" | Minnesota |style="background:#D3D3D3;"|40°||0||12.2||.453||.443||.621||1.2||1.1||0.4||0.2||0.8||4.6 |- | align="left" | 2025 | align="left" | Golden State | 19 || 10 || 23.7 || .447 || .407 || .875 || 2.9 || 1.7 || 0.9 || 0.2 || 1.3 || 10.5 |- class="sortbottom" | align="left" | Career | align="left" | 4 years, 2 teams | 91 || 16 || 15.8 || .435 || .412 || .779 || 1.7 || 1.2 || 0.5 || 0.2 || 1.0 || 6.0
Playoffs
|style="text-align:left;background:#afe6ba;"| 2017† | align="left" | Minnesota | 5 || 0 || 2.2 || 1.000 ||—||—|| 0.0 || 0.2 || 0.0 || 0.0 || 0.0 || 0.4 |- | align="left" | 2018 | align="left" | Minnesota | 1 || 1 || 25.0 || .250 || .333 ||—|| 1.0 || 0.0 || 1.0 || 1.0 || 2.0 || 3.0 |- | align="left" | 2024 | align="left" | Minnesota | 11 ||0||9.5||.370||.250||.500||1.2||0.4||0.2||0.0||0.5||2.3 |- | align="left" | 2025 | align="left" | Golden State | 2 || 2 || 31.0 || .346 || .333 || .875 || 4.5 || 2.5 || 1.0 || 0.0 || 2.5 || 14.0 |- class="sortbottom" | align="left" | Career | align="left" | 4 years, 2 teams | 19 || 3 || 10.7 || .362 || .292 || .750 || 1.2 || 0.5 || 0.3 || 0.1 || 0.7 || 3.1
References
External links