The Golden State Valkyries had a quiet first day of free agency on Saturday with only one completed transaction. That changed on Sunday when there were six officially moves that posted on the league’s transactions page and additional moves announced by the team, even if not all of the steps have been completed yet. The roster is now fuller ahead of the player entry draft on Monday where the team will be looking to add more players who can contribute this season.
Veronica Burton
There was only announced move on Saturday, but it was certainly a big one. The Golden State Valkyries and Veronica Burton agreed on a contract without the need for her to search for an offer sheet from another team that would then be matched. Richard Cohen of Her Hoop Stats confirmed the contract terms, which give her a three-year fully guaranteed deal starting at $925,000 and rising to $971,250 and $1,017,500 for the following two seasons. While the salary is less than the maximum possible, it does represent a major commitment to keeping her as one of the team’s stars after a breakout season last year.
Gabby Williams
The Valkyries had not been the subject of too many free agency rumors, but the big news on Saturday was that the team was in contention to sign Gabby Williams, who played with the Seattle Storm last season. A highly versatile player, it made sense that the team would pursue her heavily with the added bonus of Golden State being the closest team to her hometown of Sparks, Nevada. She made her decision to join the team and had it announced on Sunday, making her the most highly coveted free agent to choose the Valkyries in their young history.
Williams has played seven seasons in the WNBA after finishing her college career at Connecticut in 2018. She has successfully found a role in recent years as one of the top defensive players in the league and increased her scoring while also showing playmaking ability. That ability on both ends of the court should allow her to fit the current group and give her a starring role overall. Richard Cohen of Her Hoop Stats confirms that she was given a three-year full guaranteed contract at the maximum allowed amount, meaning salaries of $1,190,000, $1,249,500, and $1,309,000 over those years.
She qualified for French citizenship through her mother so she opted to play for their national team and has also been a mainstay there, even causing her to miss the 2021 season due to a decision by Chicago, which ultimately led to her move to Seattle for the next four seasons. She was their leading scorer in the last Olympics as they came close to upsetting the United States and will have familiarity with Iliana Rupert and Janelle Salaun from that time. She is also currently club teammates with Rupert at Turkish club Fenerbahce and both will be done with that season next weekend after they compete for the EuroLeague title.
Newcomers
The wait was for an entire year, but one of the announced signings was last year’s first round draft pick Juste Jocyte, who is scheduled to join the team once her season in the Spanish league concludes. Since she did not sign last year, her contract will be under the rookie scale of this year and another change in the CBA leaves that amount guaranteed, although any regular season time missed as she competes in the playoffs overseas will cause deductions to the salary, but not the salary cap figure. She has had a strong season overall in Europe and is much more ready to contribute this year than she would have been last year.
Two players who have never been in the league signed with the team, meaning that they signed rookie scale contracts that give them the minimum salary, full unguaranteed. Miela Sowah, a shooting guard from Australia who played collegiately at Duke was one of the signings. She opted to enter the draft in 2022 rather than use her final year of college eligibility, but was not selected and started her professional career back in her home country. Always considered a strong shooter, she built that reputation up in four seasons at the national league level, including being the leading scorer for the champion Townsville Fire this season. She also made her senior national team debut last year when they won the Asia Cup and has extensive 3×3 experience as well.
The other league newcomer is Mariella Fasoula, a center from Greece who played two seasons at Boston College and two seasons at Vanderbilt who also lived in the United States for part of her childhood. She had a strong college career, but ultimately went undrafted in 2020 and headed to Europe for her professional career. She became a high-level post player in the Spanish league and played with Besiktas in Turkey this season alongside former Valkyrie Migna Toure. She had an excellent season with them as one of the top scorers in the domestic league while also leading them to the Round of 32 in EuroCup. She has also been the leading scorer for her national team in recent tournaments.
Returnees
Two players have had their returns fully confirmed. Cecilia Zandalasini was only able to negotiate with the Valkyries, but the team already chose to give her more than the minimum last year in the same situation. Richard Cohen of Her Hoop Stats confirmed that the contract is for one year at $500,000 with no guaranteed amount. Kaila Charles signed with the team where she had a successful finish to last season after being waived by Dallas earlier in the year. Her contract was confirmed to be two years with fully guaranteed amounts of $600,000 and $615,000 to reflect her success in carving out a role in the league. Both players will be late to training camp as they need to finish their seasons in Italy with their teams meeting in the finals before they can return.
Announced Moves
The team announced four additional signings that have not made their way to the league’s official transactions page yet. Both Laeticia Amihere and Kaitlyn Chen were reported by Golden State as training camp contracts, which was expected as neither player had much leverage to ask for more than the minimum. Janelle Salaun and Iliana Rupert were both announced as multi-year contracts as they had slightly more leverage to not play even though the Valkyries had exclusive WNBA negotiating rights. Amihere and Chen will be available when training camp starts while Rupert will finish her club season next weekend and Salaun still has to go through the Czech league finals before being able to report.
Former Valkyries
Golden State had their first announced departure on Saturday when Monique Billings opted to sign with Indiana. Although she missed part of the season due to injury, she provided valuable post offense off of the bench and has had an excellent offseason. Maria Conde signed a training camp contract with Toronto after they picked her from the Valkyries in the expansion draft, giving her the chance to make her league debut after an injury prevented that chance last year.
Julie Vanloo signed with Los Angeles again after she finished last season with them once she was claimed off of waivers after the Valkyries decided not to keep her. Kyara Linskens signed a contract with Phoenix after playing in a handful of games with Golden State last year. Shyanne Sellers will head to training camp with Dallas after not making it through with two teams last year.
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