Valkyries are using the expansion draft to lay the foundation for a challenging roster

‘Valkyries’ use expansion draft to lay foundation for gritty roster originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

SAN FRANCISCO – The runway has been laid, the parts have been procured and finally, it seems, the Golden State Valkyries are starting their engines.

The Bay Area’s next professional sports franchise took the first steps toward building its roster Friday by selecting 11 players — four guards, five forwards and two centers — from the WNBA Expansion Draft. Notables include defender Kate Martin of the Las Vegas Aces and center forward Temi Fagbenle of the Indiana Fever.

Trainer Natalie Nakase made her priorities clear:

“We’re definitely going to hang our hat on the defense,” she said on NBC Sports Bay Area’s “Warriors Pregame Live” on Friday. “I’ve said that over and over again. We will be gloomy. We will be tough. Every player we have selected is battle tested, meaning they will do whatever it takes to win.

“Offensively we’re going to play the right way. We will focus on execution. And we will focus on the small details. It’s the little details that count in our offense.”

Golden State’s roster has a strong international presence, as seven of the eleven players have played on multiple continents.

Each of the 12 established WNBA teams was allowed to protect six players, while the rest – those whose rights belong to the team or are on the active roster – were made available to the Valkyries. They were allowed to select an unprotected player. Golden State chose not to select anyone from the Seattle Storm.

“We are competitive,” general manager Ohemaa Nyanin told NBC Sports Bay Area. “Every athlete has a chip on their shoulder. You are ready to work. Most of them weren’t given the biggest platform within the WNBA, especially to play. Why not in the bay? Let’s make “Herstory” together.”

Here is an alphabetical list of those selected as founding members of the Valkyries:

Monique Billings (from Phoenix Mercury): The 6-foot-4 forward from UCLA, a second-round pick in the 2018 draft, has played for three different teams and appeared in 37 games (13 starts) between Dallas and Phoenix last season.

Veronica Burton (from the Connecticut Sun): The 5-foot-9 guard from Northwestern was selected by Dallas with the seventh overall pick in the 2022 draft but was released after two seasons.

Maria Conde (from Chicago Sky): The 1.90 meter tall guard, who was most recently in the Sky squad, spent the last six years in Europe, with the four years playing for USK Praha in the Czech league. The Sky have held her draft rights since 2019, but she has not yet made her WNBA debut.

Temi Fagbenle (from Indiana Fever): The 6-foot-4 center, who played college at Harvard and USC, was a third-round pick of the Minnesota Lynx in 2016. After five years abroad, she returned to the W with the Fever last January. At 32 years old, Fagbenle is the oldest member of the team.

Carla Leite (from the Dallas Wings): The 5-foot-10 guard, who grew up in France and attended Tony Parker Academy High School, was a first-round pick (No. 9 overall) of the Wings in the 2024 draft but decided to stay abroad. At 20 years old, she is the youngest member of the Valkyries.

Kate Martin (from the Aces): The 6-foot guard, who was a teammate of Caitlin Clark at the University of Iowa, was selected in the second round of the 2024 draft. On a Vegas roster filled with star guards, she appeared in 34 games as a rookie and made two starts.

Iliana Rupert (from Atlanta Dream): The 6-foot-4 center was selected by the Aces in the first round (12th overall) of the 2021 draft and was on the 2022 championship team. She sat out the 2024 season to suit up for Team France at the Paris Olympics to prepare and won a silver medal.

Stephanie Talbot (of the Los Angeles Sparks): The 1.90 meter tall forward was drafted in the third round in 2014 but has spent most of her professional career in her native Australia. She played in 37 games (10 starts) for LA last season and ranked fourth in minutes played.

Kayla Thornton (from the New York Liberty): The 6-foot-2 forward, who went undrafted in 2014, has spent her professional career crisscrossing the globe, playing on three different continents while also breaking into the WNBA. She is considered a defensive specialist.

Julie Vanloo (of the Washington Mystics): The 5’10” Belgian-born point guard played abroad for ten years before joining the Mystics last season. She played in all 40 games last season, making 34 starts and averaging 7.4 points and 4.3 assists per game.

Cecilia Zandalasini (from Minnesota Lynx): The 6-foot-2 striker from Italy signed with the Lynx as an unrestricted free agent in 2017 but spent most of her professional career in Europe. After three seasons exclusively in Europe, she re-signed with Minnesota last April.

The next step in building the Valkyries is free agency in February. The Valkyries made careful selections in the expansion draft, giving themselves plenty of leeway to explore the market. Stars like Skylar Diggins-Smith, Nneka Ogwumike, Brianna Jones and DeWanna Bonner could be available.

Golden State owns the Nos. 5, 17 and 30 picks in the April 14 WNBA draft.

“After completing the first part of our journey,” Nyanin said, “we want to bring in the next athletes who want to put Valkyries on their chests.”