Dominique Moulanga, bienvenue au Courtside Club.
Now you're getting ready for the WNBA Draft.
Have you thought about it much?
I'm so excited because I dreamt of it, of course.
Sometimes I'm like, okay, I'm really going to the Draft, so yeah, it's just so amazing
to me and I can't wait to be there.
Your game has been compared also to Victor Weminyama.
How do you feel about that?
I watch him playing because of course we have some similarities, we take the sides, like
you know, the outside game that we can have sometimes, but I'm like myself and I'm building
Oh, okay, what was that?
So you're going to do that in the WNBA too, right?
We need to see that.
Have there been any players that stood out to you that you're a fan of?
Yeah, I would say Stewie, of course, because I really love how smooth she is.
Like I love the featherweight, that's my go-to move and she like runs it so well, so yeah,
I really love this player.
Dominique Moulanga, bienvenue au Courtside Club.
Nice, that's a nice name.
Did I say it right?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Thank you so much.
I am here in France with you today.
So excited to be able to sit down with you.
I know that you are super busy and you've also had a super busy year.
You had Olympics, you had a full season here in France, and now you're getting ready for
Have you thought about it much?
It's just around the corner.
Yeah, yeah, I'm so excited because I dreamt a bit of football.
And so now it's like two, three weeks, so like, sometimes I'm like, okay, I'm really
going to the draft.
So it's just so amazing to me and I can't wait to be there.
Has there been anything about your game that you've been working on this season to get
Yeah, of course, because I know like the W is a really tough league where you need to
be like physically prepared.
So that's why the focus that I made this season on my physical, my toughness on the court
and also on my skills.
To have all the response to the adversity that I'm going to be facing in the league.
It's definitely physical when you watch it.
And especially when rookies come in.
They like to let you know, you know, I know the rookie treatment, so I need to get prepared
They're going to rough you up a little bit and say, welcome to the WNBA.
Have you been watching any of the games or maybe last season?
Yeah, I really watched last season to the final.
Like the great, great season.
I really watched it.
And I also watched, not the same, but unrivaled.
Because it's still WNBA player.
It was still a physical league, like really interesting to watch because it was another
kind of game and, but the same players.
So I really get inspired by all that game.
And so I think I really get getting familiar to it.
Have there been any players that stood out to you that you're a fan of?
Yeah, I would say Stewie, of course, because I really love how smooth she is.
Like I love the featherweight, that's my go-to move and she like run it so well.
So yeah, I really love this player.
Stewie, is there anybody that you're nervous to maybe have to go up against?
I wouldn't say nervous because, you know, I would say I can't wait to play against them
because I'm so excited, of course, because it's great, great player.
When I think about Asia Wilson, Griner, all that post player that really like impact the
And so I can't wait, I can't wait to play against them because it's really put me in
front of great players and how will I respond to their adversity, how like great they are
and how, you know, how they play and to get, keep getting inspired by them and keep improving
my game through playing against them.
You're still pretty young and obviously you're taking a different path from obviously in
the United States, the girls go to college, play there for a while and then when they
You're going in young, but you have been playing professional basketball for a while.
What do you think has prepared you here to then translate to the WNBA?
Is there anything different about the French game?
Yeah, I think it's different because as you said, I started playing professional very
young at the age of 15.
So I think I'm used to this professional level and I would say that in French we have really
a tough league too, physical league.
We have great players.
We have players that are calling now for the training camps also because like we are really
a high level league.
So I really learned in this league because I started to have more and more minutes here
and to play and to like carry a team to, I remember last year being my team with my teammates
to the semifinals of French Cup, the semifinal of French League.
So we really made great achievement with my such a young age, I would say.
So of course I learned a lot of things.
And now this season too.
We went to semifinal of Euro Cup.
We're still in playoff in French League.
So only great experience like high level game with high level players, players who plays
on national teams, because we are also like European basketball, which is really, really
high level basketball now.
And I remember like the Olympics playing against all the players.
Like I really have so much high level games those past three years and I really, really
learned and getting better thanks to those games.
And I improve on my body, my physicality, toughness on the court and all that.
So I think even if it's a different path, I'm not in America, I'm not in the NCAA, but
I really learned here in France, in my home country, and it gives me everything.
And now I can say that I'm ready.
It's a big stage, a lot of pressure for some of these.
And let's talk about the Olympics a little bit because you were there on the biggest
And some of your teammates also already play in the WNBA.
So when you were coming back to play in New York, what was it like to play with her?
It was nice because I play also with her in Lyon before, not on the national team, I
already play in French League with her, and she's a great player.
All you see, she is doing amazing, amazing things.
So of course, being assigned to that kind of player because I also played with Gabi
And so being around that high level player that do just great things on the court, you
just look at them and you're like, okay.
want to do the same you know like at your level but you're getting inspired from them of course
and so it was just nice because she's a nice person too i like her so she was always like
you know giving advice talking to to to us the young and so yeah and then i learned also from
from watching her and and yeah but i i would say just being alongside great player make it
makes you better for sure so you're next to the guys too yeah yeah so your game has been compared
also to victor women yama how do you feel about that because he's a star already in the nba yeah
i mean uh it started with tony parker recruiting me here it was like okay she's the female wendy
he's the one who said that first and then gaining like everywhere i would say that it's nice because
being compared to victor it's nice because he's a like great player of course
he is also young like 20 21 21 years old i think yeah when he came i think he was about the same
age as you yeah not so far on me so um and the thing that he's doing is so amazing so of course
being compared to him it's like an honor i would say but i just want to make sure that like i don't
lose my identity in that i still have my game i'm like you know my myself and when i'm on the court
i i'm playing as the mid-mountain guy not as victor and i don't want to do the same as
him i'm playing as the mid-mountain guy not as victor and i don't want to do the same as him
i'm playing as the mid-mountain guy not as victor and i don't want to do the same as him
i'm playing as the mid-mountain guy not as victor and i don't want to do the same as him or to like
copy him in what he does but of course i'm getting inspired by him i watch him playing
because of course we have some similarity i would say the size like you know the outside
game that we can have sometimes so of course i'm watching him but uh i'm like myself and i
try to keep going building my own rnb yeah i think your guys's ability to you play
you're so tall obviously but you can shoot from the outside you guys both run
the floor well defensively as well i feel like that's something both of you guys take a lot of
pride in your defense so there's similarities there did you get to speak with him at all yeah
yeah not not really at the olympics because we like the men's teams like we were not really in
the same spot because they weren't in the late olympic village and stuff so that's really the
olympics but uh it was in as well one year so i met him i met him there and even before
we from the same the same hometown not there so
i like i know him since a lot of theories but we're not like close friends but yeah before we
used to talk sometimes and he has some great advice advice too and we are in the same agency
so sometimes we can like course each other so yeah what's the best advice he's given you
i mean not really an advice but the thing that he's like so he has so much confidence on himself
like he know who it is who he is sorry and he just go out there and just play like with
without thinking yeah so besides playing basketball on the court what was your favorite part about the
olympic experience i would say being around all that like high level athlete like not even
basketball but just like all the sports it was amazing because you just crossed in the village
and you you next to i don't know the track and field athlete like all the the swimmer like every
everybody and it was just like a small community where you go to eat together
to just like you live together for a week or two so that was the great part just to meet people to
connect and to discover all the sports or the people and just to learn like how beautiful is
the sport because it just like bring people together yeah yeah was there anyone that was
your favorite who you met or you or maybe you saw i saw uh nikola jokic and i read a picture with him
so i was like i was yeah i was kind of happy with that picture because he's like you know
one of the best in the world in the world like and the fact that he's just like you know himself
you see him in the like outside of the course sometimes you cannot tell that he's a basketball
player and that was so funny about him seeing him like having fun with all his teammates he was like
nice even sometimes on the court he's just like having a good time and then he has 40 points and
20 rebounds and you said huh what's going on he's so good i see him scoring yeah right well that had
to be so much fun for me and i think it was so much fun for me and i think it was so much fun for me
such an amazing experience and you have so much more to come you're finishing out your french
season here but to get your game familiar with our courtside audience because maybe they haven't been
able to watch you play as much for halftime i want to go over some of your highlights if that's cool
with you let's go okay cool all right so this game i believe you had 32 points yeah i remember there's
some fun stuff in here so you walk us through what's going on first bucket pick and roll my
go to i would say go to move because pick a roll like find me in the role finding the paint is so
easy for my teammates sometimes so yeah that was a little defensive steal here yes too and then run
the floor i like to run the floor of course because i i know that sometimes i can be like faster than
the other force so that's something that i do okay oh okay what was that
we have to run that back a little bit okay so where your teammate
i think i just scored and i like fell on the floor
and so i stayed there and then steal and then i was like wide open then you had to talk yeah and
it was my second bank of the season uh my first was the like i think two games before oh okay
so you're gonna do that in the wmba too right i hope we need to see that i want to i want to yeah
yeah here because here again give and go yeah yeah again that's you running the floor
drag transition peak and then yes you know in the paint
easy to find i love to play pick and roll with you stay because you always find the good pass and
then drive well on that one too you didn't roll to the basket you popped out i popped out and then
played the close out also you can do that sometimes here seal a little pin in the
sometimes i'm taller you know so it's easy to do those kind of low pass
transition here i see her late so i just accelerate running the floor again
and then that was nice is that your favorite thing on defense yeah i love blocks or steals
a little fade oh sometimes i do that when you know i'm kind of lazy i don't want to contact so i just
a bucket's a bucket you know i like the footwork i like the footwork there first step is quick
i think that's what's the problem i think that's what makes you so hard to guard is they have to
guard you at the three but when they do you can also take people off the dribble and a lot of
times the taller girls you're faster than you know sorry but you're gonna have quicker foot
speed that was nice all that love but i like when i get used you know to my teammates and to my team
after it's so easy to play with me because i always like manage how to catch all like
all the passes high and so sometimes they they don't know what to do so they just throw the ball
you know and i just manage to just go get it basketball so sometimes not often but sometimes
i think it's great and then then you guys get flowers after the game i saw that with the game
the mvp of the game okay i like that yeah what i noticed too when i was at your game
in person is your court vision right so we talked about you being able to play all over the court
but also when you do drive and sometimes you don't have it if there's two or three people on you i've
seen you kick out to the shooters or a little you know dish to the cutter i try to improve that
because before i was in just
i was sorry just going into it like just always tried to like beat everybody and so
i didn't really have the ability to okay like just put the head up and just like see my teammate
and i really um work on that sorry yeah and now i'm more and more able to do it and that's why i
have more and more assists in the stats sheet because before i was like zero one assist and
now i'm more like three four so it's something that i really want to improve because of course
people now in the league especially they see i'm
like a scorer i'm efficient and so they come they close and i really welcome that to to also like
me i involve my teammates in my place yeah no i could definitely see that and then also with the
high pick and roll because that's something obviously when you get to those higher levels
and you have a great point guard you're going to be able to utilize that um what do you prefer do
you prefer the role do you prefer the pick and prop i would say before like on your role because
i really you know i i love to be in the pain but now i really love to pop because i have all the
options i can shoot i can drive i can you know like even like pick flare pop give and go you
know there is so much around the pick and pop so now i'm really i really love that because
sometimes when you roll like you're just in the pain you have to see all right it's like you know
it's it's something you gotta get to work yeah exactly but sometimes you have the little shirt
you have everything around but i would say both but more role of course because i know that today
i'm still more efficient in the paint and of course like with my size i cannot be outside
like the whole game long so yeah obviously still because i have to work let's talk a little bit
about tony parker recruiting you what was that like that's a great story because it was uh
surprising to me because before so i as i say i was wicked here at the age of 15 so before i was
in in sep i don't know if you know this um it's a formation center for us when you are in high
school you have those three years where you are in like what we call this uh formation center i
would say here in israel there's one two and every like pro club has one and in sep is like the best
one and when you are there you're playing third division the first year and then second division
second and third year sorry so i was there and it was i went there one year in advance so i was in
ninth grade for you i think
like 14 years old 13. because i i i was born in november so always so you're a little younger
okay yeah so i was 13 and it was my second year there and i was supposed to do four years there
instead of three because i have one year one year more and at the end like middle end of my second
year uh i always was i already was in touch with my actual agent uh jeremy and he's not like close
he told me uh i had a great game there because we have this game where uh the first year
play against those who do the test to go in to get into the the i would be like we would probably
call it like a development league or school or academy yeah we can call it like an academy yeah
academy okay so the first year they play against the girl who did the test to and to get in so i
played and i had like a great game
that complete game three is the drive everything like really great game and so uh he just said okay
i showed your game to tony and he loved that and he was like okay she had nothing to do anymore
with the kids i would say yeah she needs to be pro right now blah blah and then he i was like
i'm tony parker of course and i was like the actual tony parker is saying that i need to be
pro like like tomorrow and i have nothing to do here so i i speak to my parents and they were like
like miss the opportunity like a great opportunity and you have to to take it and so um i would say
two weeks uh after that uh tony called me and my family they said okay you come to you know right
now you come to visit the city you come to visit the school because i was uh in the tony parker
academy that he has now okay he has an academy yeah and so i went there so for two years and i
was living there but i was playing with the pro here and so he like uh rent us like a private jet
to come to paris paris big time i was all the stars in my eyes everything so private jet paris
to lyon uh great dinner big chef i was like everything just to tell me okay uh i see your
potential you like you become a great player you need to come here i will do this this do this
okay i cannot miss this opportunity you know and so yeah at 15 i was there that's so cool
now it's a great story because that's what launched me i would say yeah here because uh i
if i um i choose the like the normal path with older years i would be pro only last year
so you know so it will be my second year but now it's my fourth year so i've had so much
experience in that time yeah when my like my
, at my age, were still learning at school i was already playing with the big players as i said i
i went here and it was the time where as well was full of great players like marin johannes gabby
williams alexa chateau elena sec like big i play also with sandrine gruda like really big big
players so it was just like amazing to me because i learned so much these two years the three years
sorry but yeah and you stayed humble too that would that'd be crazy if you're 15 years old and
a former nba superstar says you're you know gives you praise like that that's pretty cool
have you guys stayed in touch since then has has he yeah of course because he's the president of
the club so for sure we just like see him around and he he came like he came to the big games and
you know so of course we still we're not like chatting every day but he keep an eye i think
and yes he's in your corner he's cheering for you yeah
because he bring me here so yeah so you have a little time left here in leon before obviously
you go to the states for the summer what are your goals for the rest of the season
i think the rest of the season of course is like to do the best we can in the playoffs
that is they start just after the draft like i come back to the draft today after i have
the first game of the playoffs so it's gonna be quick wait wait wait so you're gonna go to
draft and then come back and then come back yeah you're busy and then you're going to go back and
Because you only have, like, maybe three weeks until the start of the season, right?
I would say I will go here until we lose with my team as well.
So I will go the further I can.
I will see with the franchise who are going to draft me.
They're going to tell me what they want and I'm going to explain to them that,
okay, but can I just finish the season here, you know?
I have to do all the things great because Lyon were so good to me.
So I really want to give back to them.
And I give everything I have until the last second, of course.
So, yeah, the goal is to go to the playoff, go out there and play.
Like, we never know, you know, we're seven spots now.
But everything can happen in the playoff, we know that.
So we just go out there and just play.
I will give my best and bring Lyon as far as we can.
Get a nice win before you go over to the States.
That's a good little send-off.
Yeah, this weekend, Sunday, we have the last game of the regular season.
So, like, the goal is to have the win,
to finish well the regular season.
So we'll have all the confidence to enter in the playoffs
and have a great tournament.
Well, I mean, your schedule is absolutely insane.
She just came from practice also.
So I appreciate you taking the time to come on Courtside Club.
Our audience is already a fan of yours.
They're a fan of the WNBA.
And you've been, your name has been, you know,
brought up quite a bit in the media,
obviously anticipating the WNBA draft.
So I'm excited for American fans to get to know you better as well.
Also, you're very sweet and humble and very easy to be a fan of.
So before I let you go, I have two buzzer beater questions for you.
We do this every episode on the Courtside Club.
So who is one person that you would love to see sitting courtside
at one of your games?
Did you meet him at Olympics?
You mean you just saw him?
Like, not even because, you know,
we were so busy, so I couldn't watch any game or any sport, anything.
I mean, it's a shame, you know, because he was like so next to me.
But no, I couldn't, couldn't meet him, no.
I saw him so far because you remember the opening ceremony?
You guys were on boats, right?
On boats, exactly.
And like their boat was just in front of us.
So I could see him like from there.
And who is one person, dead or alive, that you would like to sit courtside with?
Chat about the game, cheer on the team.
I would say Janis Antetokounmpo because he's so funny.
He's bad jokes and everything.
Like, you know, I think you can have like a friend with him.
Yeah, that would be really fun.
And last one for you.
What is one event in history, it could be a sporting event,
that you would have loved to see?
That you would have loved to have been courtside for?
I would say one Chicago Bulls championship game.
Yeah, that was the great epoch.
That was really fun.
Well, Nomi, thank you so much once again for coming on Courtside Club.
Also, let everyone know where they can follow you on social media.
They can follow me on Instagram.
They make my own guides easy to find, I think.
And then that's it.
That's all I use.
That's all we need.
Thank you so much.
Thank you for having me this night.
How do we say goodbye in French?