The Golden State Valkyries announced that they waived six more players on Saturday in a set of transactions that officially went through league channels on Sunday. Other teams now have the chance to claim the existing contracts of Miela Sowah, Ndjakalenga Mwenentanda, Cate Reese, Marta Suarez, Mariella Fasoula, and Ashlon Jackson before they become free agents again. The moves leave them one transaction away from a roster that they will be able to go with during the regular season while also setting the stage for the team to be able to sign players to development players spots.
Current Roster
Waiving six players leaves the Valkyries roster at thirteen players now, one above the regular season twelve player limit. The exact rules for roster spots have not been publicly released yet so it is not completely clear whether the current roster can be kept in place until Juste Jocyte reports or if there will need to be one more move made before the season starts. Under the rules of the last CBA, the final amounts of contracts that the Valkyries added along with who they have now would leave them around $120,000 short when it comes to salary cap space to carry thirteen players temporarily.
Of the thirteen players under contract, there are six contracts that are already fully guaranteed this season for Gabby Williams, Veronica Burton, Kayla Thornton, Kaila Charles, Tiffany Hayes, Kiah Stokes. Due to their contributions to the rotation last season, it seems likely that Janelle Salaun, Cecilia Zandalasini, and Iliana Rupert also have spots locked up while Juste Jocyte’s high draft status should also keep her place secured even though she is not participating in training camp. That would leave two spots for three returning players who contributed at times last season while also sometimes finding themselves playing less minutes.
Kate Martin was the one of the three players who had a contract for the entirety of last season. She also has the greatest familiarity with Natalie Nakase’s system after they also worked together in Las Vegas. Her versatility fits in well with the Valkyries and if the team keeps her, they will also need to make a decision on her contract for next season soon as there is an option that extends her deal and guarantees next year’s salary. Kaitlyn Chen played the fewest minutes of the trio and only has a year of experience, but Golden State could really use another player whose primary position point guard to back up Veronica Burton even though there are other playmakers on the roster. She certainly got an extended look at that role in the lone preseason game and showed what she could do. Positional balance could also be a factor for Laeticia Amihere remaining with the team as her presence would give the team a third true post player to help them in certain matchups while primarily playing smaller forwards at the four.
Development Players
All six waived players were rookies, meaning that all of them are eligible to sign in one of the two new development players spots. There was some expectation that they team might wait a little bit longer to make a final decision or makes moves in waves instead of all at once, but since players need to clear the waiver process to sign again, it does make sense to make the moves earlier to ensure that there are two players signed to those deals before Friday’s opener.
There are teams in the league that do have available spots right now who could put in a claim for a player, although using a roster spot on a rookie who was not in your training camp is a risk. Once the players clear waivers, they are able to sign a regular or development contract with any team, but familiarity may again be a factor with teams having more knowledge about players going through their training camp. Other teams have signed players directly to the spots before practicing with the team, but they are unguaranteed so further moves can always be made. Age may also be a factor as well with some teams using the spots to bring in older players who they feel they can rely on to help them in games. When it comes to the six players waived by the Valkyries, Jackson and Mwenentanda are 22, Suarez is 23, Sowah is 25, Reese is 26, and Fasoula is 28.
The Roster Crunch
As was the case last year, getting towards a final roster required waiving players who can contribute given the right opportunities, leaving plenty of room for questioning before the season starts and then more if the players kept instead do not live up to expectations. The Valkyries locked themselves into many roster spots with their free agency moves, meaning that there have never really been more than two places up for grabs since training camp began. Familiarity has been a theme with only three roster spots going to newcomers. While the team certainly has the expectation of being better than last year with that experience of a season together coupled with the addition of a star, it is certainly an open question whether taking a risk by breaking up that group more would have contributed more toward a genuine step to the championship contention that is the stated medium-term goal.
The biggest talking point regarding the training camp moves will continue to be the draft day trade that had the Valkyries sending away their first-round pick to move back and get an additional second-round pick. There is no real value guide on draft pick trades with not much of a track record to measure from, but in terms of likelihood of drafting a player who could stick in the league long-term, going from a middle of the first-round choice to two second-round picks is not generally considered favorable in that regard. Golden State would have still faced a roster crunch had they kept the pick and waiving whichever player that they selected there would have gotten an even stronger reaction, so there is still time for Marta Suarez to make a contribution while perhaps starting from a development spot or for the 2028 draft pick to pay off down the line.
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