The first 11 members of the Golden State Valkyries were announced Friday night, to the rest of the world, and to the players themselves.
Before the draft, head coach Natalie Nakase said she wanted to pick ultra-competitive, defensive-minded 3-point shooters. The Valkyries selected, in alphabetical order by city:
- Iliana Rupert from the Atlanta Dream
- María Conde from the Chicago Sky
- Veronica Burton from the Connecticut Sun
- Carla Leite from the Dallas Wings
- Temi Fagbenle from the Indiana Fever
- Kate Martin from the Las Vegas Aces
- Stephanie Talbot from the LA Sparks
- Cecilia Zandalasini from the Minnesota Lynx
- Kayla Thornton from New York Liberty
- Monique Billings from Phoenix Mercury
- No selection from Seattle Storm
- Julie Vanloo from Washington Mystics
The Valkyries chose Bay Area personalities to announce the names of their players, including LPGA golfer Michelle Wie West, rapper E-40, and former Golden State Warrior Baron Davis. Seven of the 11 women selected are international players.
Nakase, who was an assistant in Las Vegas before she was tapped to lead the new franchise, chose the fan favorite, sharpshooting Martin as her one selection from the Aces. Martin, who had a standout career at Iowa alongside Caitlin Clark, averaged just 11.5 minutes last season, but is one of the players tapped by the new 3-on-3 women’s basketball league Unrivaled for its inaugural campaign.
“I’m really excited for this new beginning and to build something from the ground up here with the Valkyries,” Martin said on ESPN after the selections. “Coach Nakase is somebody you’re going to want to run through a brick wall for.”
Other important playmakers for the Valkyries will be reigning champion Thornton, Indiana’s Fagbenle (a surprise unprotected player for the ESPN studio crew), and defensive specialist Veronica Burton.
Predictably, Golden State did not draft any of the league’s highest profile players, and the free agency market will be important for them to be able to compete against top teams in the WNBA next year. “It’s a really, really important deal for them to be able to get some free agents to add to this group,” said ESPN personality and former WNBA player Rebecca Lobo.
The Valkyries by no means had to fill their entire roster, and chose to leave just one open spot. The WNBA caps rosters at 12 players, so between the free agency window that begins in February, and the No. 5 pick in every round of the entry draft, and any other pickups, it’s unlikely all the women drafted Friday end up on the final Golden State roster come Opening Night in May. But, the new team does open up the league from 144 to 156 players.
The draft was relatively calm compared to what the Valkyries could have done, including trading players between teams and making an unexpected pick of an unprotected superstar.
For the WNBA’s first expansion draft since 2008, the league decided to keep the list of protected players private. It’s out of line with other major leagues including the NHL, MLS, and NWSL, which each announced the draft pools available to their respective expansion teams over the past three years. (The NWSL recently abolished all drafts after outcry from players, including Alex Morgan, who called watching the 2023 Bay FC expansion draft “torture.”)
A source close to the league tells Front Office Sports that each team’s list was meant to stay confidential from both players and other teams, but couldn’t say for certain that players or other teams didn’t find out.
For players in a franchise amid turmoil, hearing one’s name could feel like a Charlie and the Chocolate Factory golden ticket. For others, not knowing whether they’re on the chopping block might resemble a Hunger Games “reaping.”
“It’s a big day in our league today… while exciting, can be hard for players as everyone is finding out in real time… and probably will be different emotions to process. Please keep that into consideration,” Los Angeles Sparks player Dearica Hamby posted on X Friday morning, along with a pair of heart emoji.
The Valkyries got to select up to 12 players, one from each franchise, all of which were allowed to protect half of its 12 players. Nakase and general manager Ohemaa Nyanin had 10 days to make trades before the expansion draft as well.
The Valkyries have competitive practice and game facilities, lots of cap space, and an already eager fan base that could lure big names like Kelsey Plum, Satou Sabally, Dewanna Bonner, and Alyssa Thomas. Some unrestricted free agents, including Plum, Sabally, and Thomas, are eligible to be given a “core” designation by their respective teams, which would block them from negotiating with the Valkyries, but guarantees a big payday in their current market.
All of these designations, from core to protected to restricted, left WNBA fans pretty confused. The official league X account encouraged fans to submit questions in the days leading up to the draft. Under the WNBA’s lengthy answer to a question about whether the Las Vegas Aces need to protect Plum (they do, and if they don’t, she could become the one unrestricted free agent the Valkyries are allowed to select), one user commented, “We not reading all that,” while another wrote, “Can anyone translate this?”
The Valkyries draft will give the WNBA and its players plenty of feedback for the next offseason, when both the Toronto Tempo and yet-to-be-named Portland franchise will build their rosters.
The players’ association is spending this offseason in negotiations with the league for a new collective bargaining agreement that would be implemented ahead of the 2026 season. The current CBA, which expires Oct. 31, 2025, includes some rules around expansion drafts, but does not, for example, dictate whether players or the public can know draft pools ahead of time, or whether players can know that they’ve been selected before the public does. Based on how Friday goes, and the quick pickup in expansion drafts after many years without one, players could try to build more protections into the next CBA to smooth over any bumps in the process.
The Valkyries’ first game will be on May 16 at the Chase Center in San Francisco against WNBA founding member Los Angeles Sparks.
