Grace Berger Scores 12 Points in Gernika KESB Debut

Grace Berger, a former five-year superstar for coach Teri Moren and the Indiana women's basketball team, made her debut for the Spanish club Gernika KESB on Saturday, and scored 12 points in a win. Berger's first WNBA season with the Indiana Fever concluded earlier in September.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — It doesn't matter what country Grace Berger is playing basketball in. No matter where the Indiana women's basketball legend goes, she balls out on the court. 

With her WNBA season concluded, the Hoosier turned Indiana Fever guard left for Spain to play for Gernika KESB. The professional Spanish basketball club plays in the Liga Femenina de Baloncesto, also known as the Liga Femenina Endesa. It's the women's equivalent of the Liga ACB, a professional men's basketball league run by the Spanish Basketball Federation.

In her first game for the Spanish club on Saturday, Berger scored 12 points on 5-for-8 shooting in 19 minutes of play. Berger also tallied three rebounds, two assists and two steals in a 71-57 win for Gernika KESB over Ensino. 

Las buenas costumbres nunca hay que perderlas 👏#GutarikoBat💜 pic.twitter.com/K30B67QDfK

— Lointek Gernika Bizkaia (@GKesb) September 23, 2023

Saturday was the first game of Gernika KESB's 2023-24 regular season. The team next plays on Oct. 7, when they take on the Ferrol. 

While most of KESB roster is comprised of players with Spanish heritage, Berger does have two American teammates with her who both used to play in the WNBA. Those two are Crystal Bradford, who played for the Los Angeles Sparks in 2015 and 2021, as well as Angie Bjorklund, who played Chicago Sky back in 2011. Bradford and Bjorklund also played college basketball at Central Michigan and Tennessee, respectively.

Playing overseas during the offseason is a fairly common practice for WNBA players. Many foreign basketball teams in both Europe and Asia have offered contracts that dwarf what WNBA organizations have offered some of the players over the years. 

Most famously, the all-time leading scorer in WNBA history — Diana Taurasi — missed the entirety of the 2015 season at the request of her Russian Premier League team, UMMC Ekaterinburg. At the time, Taurasi had just won the 2014 WNBA Finals MVP and was making just under the league's maximum salary of $107,000. However, UMMC Ekaterinburg offered her a $1.5 million dollar deal, easily beating out what the Phoenix Mercury were paying Taurasi. 

During her rookie season in the WNBA, Berger made $71,300, which is 5.27% of the league's salary cap, according to Spotrac. There don't seem to be any publicly available numbers on Berger's contract with Gernika KESB, though it would not take an extraordinary leap of faith to believe she is making more money with the Spanish team than she made with the Fever in 2023. Though it's also quite possible that the Fever are paying her more money too. There isn't enough publicly available information to know for sure. 

Still, the offseason play gives the all-time winningest player in Indiana women's basketball history more opportunity to improve on what was a great rookie season. Berger was named to the AP WNBA All-Rookie team at the regular season's end, and became a consistent positive in the Fever's rotation during the latter half of their schedule. 

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