The 2026 WNBA Player Entry Draft was on Monday and the Golden State Valkyries had three draft picks. With teams still in the middle of free agency, there was a lot more uncertainty about how remaining roster spots would be filled. After their success from a year ago, the Valkyries had to wait for all of the lottery and expansion teams to make their first selection. They made the pick, but there was a twist later with a trade back to the second round.
Flau’jae Johnson
The Valkyries finally got the chance to make their pick after the first seven teams made their selections and they went with Flau’jae Johnson. A wing who played collegiately at LSU, she became a more polarizing draft prospect over the course of the season and would almost certainly would have been picked earlier had she opted to enter last year’s draft instead of using her final year of college eligibility. It seemed like a good choice that would fit in with the team’s defensive identity, but a trade was announced soon after that.
Marta Suarez
Marta Suarez was picked by the Seattle Storm with the 16th pick, the first selection in the second round. Her trade was announced right after that as the Valkyries got her and a future draft pick in exchange for Flau’jae Johnson. Suarez played her last college season at TCU after playing the previous two seasons at Cal and graduating. She emerged there after two seasons at Tennessee, finding a role that showcased her offensive skills. Those numbers increased further in her final season, especially long-range shooting, which figures to be her immediate contribution at the professional level. She is a strong playmaker for her height while it is not as clear which positions that she will be asked to defend primarily now.
Ashlon Jackson
The Valkyries made their own second round pick when they selected shooting guard Ashlon Jackson from Duke with the 23rd pick. She played all four years of her college career there and developed a reputation as a strong shooter who could make high degree of difficult shots. While those numbers fell in her senior year, she took on a bigger role as a playmaker. She also played a key defensive role this past season on a team that was successful on that end, which should also translate in her professional career. It is unclear how many roster spots are truly up for grabs in training camp or what the exact mechanism will be for using the new development spots, but second round picks do face an uphill battle to make final rosters as was the case last year.
Kokoro Tanaka
The third round of the draft is trickier for teams as they do not always have enough roster spots for all of the players that they pick, leading to internationals being under consideration if they can be convinced to not show up immediately since they are younger than the players who are available from the college route. The Valkyries went with Kokora Tanaka, a point guard from Japan who has had multiple breakout performances for their national team. She has played for two seasons at Sunflowers at the club level after turning professional following her high school career, but has only made four starts there. She did play more minutes this season, but still deferred to more established players when it came to scoring even though that was the most impressive aspect of her national team play. The pick was certainly worth the risk with the difficulty of finding an impact college pick in that range, but it is also possible that the team never sees any benefit from it.
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