In No Offseason, The Athletic follows the paths of women’s basketball players after their WNBA seasons’ end and their travels begin. From Turkey, Israel, Italy, Czech Republic, Mexico and even here in the U.S., our reporters tell the stories of these players as they chase their dreams and try to shape the future of the WNBA.
Advertisement
ISTANBUL, Turkey — A few months back, as Ecrin Mart was scanning Netflix for something to binge, she stumbled upon a series that spoke to her main passion. Ecrin is 14, and was born in Istanbul, Turkey, a few years after Michael Jordan retired from the NBA. Despite having never watched one of his games, she was familiar with his name and, of course, his shoes, and she wanted to learn more about Jordan himself. Already a basketball diehard, she quickly realized “The Last Dance” was something she had to consume.
In 15 seasons, Jordan stockpiled records like few — before or after — have. Though still in high school, Ecrin already has done something the Hall of Famer never accomplished: In September 2020, she dribbled two basketballs while blindfolded for 19 minutes and 5 seconds — a Kids World Record in the category for girls ages 10-12.
The WNBA’s official Instagram page once shared a clip of Ecrin dribbling blindfolded. And she’s showcased her ball-on-a-string control in collaborations with some of Turkey’s biggest influencers. Last year, the Spanish TV series “Got Talent España” wrote an email to her father, Fahrettin, asking the family to fill out an information form because it wanted her record-breaking performance on the show. Fahrettin says the family thought the outreach was fake; every day for the ensuing two weeks he received a phone call from them. “We live in Istanbul,” he says of their recruiting efforts. “(It was) crazy.”
She eventually traveled to Madrid and performed for the program’s judges. “My name is Ecrin. I am 13 years old. I come (from) Turkey because I see girl power,” she told them, while on stage.
Ecrin, however, does far more than perform a singular basketball trick. She is a member of one of the country’s top academies, competing for a number of Galatasaray’s youth teams. And in part because of her exposure both to top Turkish and American professional players here, she has high on-court aspirations. “My first dream is to play on the national team,” she says. “And then (the) woman NBA.”
Initially, Ecrin was a swimmer, not a basketball player. It wasn’t until she was 8 or 9 that she took to the hardwood. Her family, though, has always been closely connected with the sport. Fahrettin is related to center Semih Erden, who logged brief stints with the Cleveland Cavaliers and Boston Celtics in the early 2010s. Fahrettin also was neighbors throughout his youth with forward Hedo Türkoğlu, who played 15 NBA seasons, most notably with the Orlando Magic.
Advertisement
Fahrettin was Ecrin’s first coach. Though she says basketball was difficult at first, she quickly grew fond of the sport. At 10, she enrolled in the academy system of another top Turkish club, Beșitkaș. A year after that, she joined Galatasaray’s system, where she has remained since.
In Turkey, academies play a key role in trying to develop the country’s next top players. Istanbul, home to three of the nation’s most-renowned teams, is the center of the sport’s ecosystem — the basketball federation’s office, for instance, is connected to one of the city’s biggest stadiums.
“We have to make them happy when they come to practice,” says Ekrem Memnun, who is the head coach of both Turkey’s women’s national team and one of the country’s top club teams, ÇBK Mersin. “First thing should be love. Kids must love the game. We must input more love. The more they love, the more they stay. The more they stay, the more talent will come.”
Galatasaray’s youth teams share a facility with the club’s senior teams, meaning Ecrin and her teammates have been exposed to some of the top women’s basketball players in the world. Wings center Teaira McCowan and Sky center Azurà Stevens currently suit up for the club.
Ecrin’s favorite player is Aces guard Kelsey Plum, who played at Galatasaray last season. “I was very excited, and I don’t talk,” Ecrin says of what it was like meeting the Las Vegas star. She loves Plum’s ballhandling and court vision. Though she doesn’t watch WNBA games live because of the time difference, Ecrin does try to follow along through YouTube and social media.
In Istanbul, academy players often flock to the senior team’s games, both learning from and showing adoration for the professionals in front of them. After Fenerbahçe’s recent overtime win over Praha, for instance, more than a dozen kids who are part of Fener’s organization found themselves on the floor for a photograph alongside those they just witnessed play.“It’s amazing to just see that next generation watching,” says Liberty forward Natasha Howard, who currently plays for the aforementioned Turkish team.
Advertisement
They are doing more than merely observing, however. Every weekday morning, Ecrin takes a bus and two trains to her high school, which finishes the school day around 4 p.m. She then walks to Galatasaray’s academy, where she does her homework and prepares for a 7 p.m. practice. Workouts usually wrap around 10. Fahrettin then picks her up, and the two drive to their family’s home, which is located more than 15 miles away. Rinse and repeat.
On weekends, Ecrin’s teams often compete in either tournaments or in one-off contests. No matter what level her competition is, she says she will then also train with her dad. They estimate Ecrin spends more than 24 hours a week playing basketball. Asked if she’s ever fatigued by her workload, she says, “No, because I like it.”
That fondness is apparent when Ecrin talks about her basketball journey. Over a recent meal of köfte, French fries and rice, she can’t stop smiling as she talks about all that she’s done, which includes participating in an NBA Europe three-on-three event in Barcelona this summer. As she speaks in both Turkish and English (she’s still only just learning the latter), Fahrettin, too, beams with pride.
Ecrin has always taken to dribbling. But doing it blindfolded, she says, was something she started trying two years ago. She’s not really sure why she did, but it’s stuck with her. She guesses she’ll spend around 10 minutes a day practicing it.
Her overall game is very much in development, and her youth is still very much on display — as she and her father sat to eat recently, for instance, he had to help her open her black Galatasaray jacket after its zipper jammed. But she says she already often receives comments from even younger girls saying they want to be like her. “I am happy,” she says, knowing she is helping others become interested in basketball. That is part of why next week, her father says, Turkey’s Ministry of Culture and Ministry of Sports is giving her a best-in-basketball award.
Ecrin says that perhaps as soon as next year, she hopes to travel to the United States to continue improving. But as she possibly leaves her homeland, the WNBA has also talked about wanting to bring the league closer to her.
WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert recently discussed a desire to expand the WNBA’s global footprint. This spring, the league is planning to play a preseason game in Canada, which would mark the first time since 2011 it has played an international game. “We would love to get over to Europe, Asia, do (Europe, Middle East, Africa), do an Asian tour at some point in the future as we build the economics of this league and the success of these players’ global brands,” Engelbert said at the 2022 WNBA Finals.
And if the league ever goes to Turkey, there’s at least one fan who would surely jump at the opportunity to see a WNBA game in-person.
Advertisement
“One of my biggest dreams,” Ecrin says, “is to see them play here.”
The “No Offseason” series is part of a partnership with Google Pixel. The Athletic maintains full editorial independence. Partners have no control over or input into the reporting or editing process and do not review stories before publication.
(Illustration: John Bradford / The Athletic; Photo of Ecrin Mart: Anadolu Agency / Getty Images)
ncG1vNJzZmismJqutbTLnquim16YvK57k2lna21manxzfJFrZmpqX2aCcMPNm5hmoZ6psrO6wK2gqKaRoXqzscKoqZ1lpKq%2FrLHYZquenZ5k