With the championship won and the parade finished, the focus for the Golden State Valkyries turns to next season as the team tries to defend their title with the strongest roster possible. A number of players already have their contracts set with decisions to make on who can be retained as well as what players should be targeted in free agency. The team enters the new year with seven players who have contract terms already for next season, three players who are able to sign with any team, two players who can be made restricted free agents, one player who does not have a contract whose signing rights they still control, one draft pick who has not signed a contract yet, and the two players under developmental contracts.
Salary Cap
The exact salary cap figure for next season will be determined in the offseason, but there is no reason to believe that the increase will be less than the maximum 13% for this year. Players can receive more than the amount that their contract counts towards the salary cap based on their allocated percentage of league revenue, so these figures are more of a symbolic indicator used to handle roster and player movement. Existing contracts that have fixed increases become relative bargains in the following year when it comes to value if the cap increases by a higher percentage than the contracts.
The maximum increase would mean that the salary cap would grow to $7.91 million next year. Using the contract information available at Her Hoop Stats’s database, the seven existing contracts would take up $4,609,928 of the figure, leaving a potential $3,300,072 for five more roster spots. There are free agents on other teams who would fit well with the Valkyries so this offseason does offer another chance to bring in star player. Winning the title also gives Golden State a natural pitch to older players who know that they do not have too many more opportunities to win a championship before retirement.
Players Under Contract
The Valkyries built their offseason around bringing Gabby Williams in alongside Veronica Burton to be the key players for the team with three-year contracts. The raises for both of them in this second year is 5%, which means that their deals are projected to occupy less of the salary cap in this coming year. Kaila Charles signed a two-year contract with a 2.5% increase for the upcoming year to stay with the team as she proved to be a key part of the defense this year. The last player who has a guaranteed contract for next year is Kiah Stokes, whose increase is 3% after anchoring the paint defense in a great postseason.
Three players have contracts for next year, but those deals are not technically guaranteed at this point. Juste Jocyte will be on the second year of her rookie scale contract and it would guarantee on opening day. She did not end up playing much of a role this year even though she definitely had moments of brilliance that demonstrated why she was a highly regarded draft pick. Since she qualified as an international, she will enter next year still being younger than nearly all of the draft class, so it would not be surprising to see her grow into a role in the league with more time and preparation.
Even though the Valkyries had exclusive signing rights for two players in the offseason, they offered both of them a higher salary than was strictly necessary after they had played well last year. Janelle Salaun’s deal has a 4% increase attached to it for this year and she was a key part of the team’s regular season success with her scoring off of the bench even though her minutes dwindled as the playoffs progressed. Iliana Rupert missed the entire season with her pregnancy, after demonstratating her ability to provide the kind of offense that the team was looking for in a post player. Her contract has a 5% increase for this year and it may take her a little bit of time to get back to the level that she had reached in Europe before this season as she projects to be an important rotation player.
Unrestricted Free Agents
Kayla Thornton and Tiffany Hayes signed one-year contracts for this season and both of them ended up having big roles for the team for a second straight year with significant experience in the league. There would definitely be roles in the rotation for them again, especially for the postseason, but it is still unclear how the free agency market will play out in this new era of a large salary cap when it comes to amounts and contract lengths.
Aminata Gueye is also free to sign with any team as she was signed to replace the roster spot of Iliana Rupert instead of signing a regular contract. Given that she had not participated in training camp and signed so late in the season, it was a pleasant surprise that she was able to make an impact in the key game to end the regular season and had some big moments in the playoff run. She has certainly earned a chance to make a roster, whether that training camp opportunity would come from the Valkyries or someone else.
Restricted Free Agents
Players whose contracts have expired after exactly four years of service are eligible to be restricted free agents. Those players would be able to sign offer sheets from other teams, but their existing teams would be able to match those terms to retain the player. For Golden State, Cecilia Zandalasini and Laeticia Amihere fall under this designation.
Zandalasini has had a big role in both seasons with the team, including being a starter for nearly the entire past season and her shooting ability could draw some interest from other teams. Amihere has had some strong contributions as a backup in the post, but she might have less clear of a role heading into next season. Other teams are always looking for depth when it comes to height, but if there is not strong interest from other teams, she could sign the qualifying offer that would keep her with the Valkyries and give her another shot in training camp.
Reserved Players
Kaitlyn Chen only had a contract for this year, but with only two years of service in the league, she does not qualify for free agency and the Valkyries continue to have the exclusive right to sign her to a new contract. While that means that they are under no obligation to offer her anything above the minimum for next year, the Valkyries have shown that they are willing to offer players with a role on the team more than that as she emerged as the backup point guard this season. That sort of decision might wait until later in free agency when it becomes more clear how much salary cap room that Golden State has left.
Developmental Contracts
Just like players without enough years of service to qualify for other type of free agency, players who finish the season on developmental contracts still have their exclusive signing rights held by their team. Miela Sowah spent the entire season with the team and Ashten Prechtel was there for nearly the whole time so it would make sense for the Valkyries to offer both of them contracts ahead of training camp and give them another chance to make the roster.
Exclusive Signing Rights
The Valkyries picked Kokoro Tanaka in the last entry draft, but it made both sense for both sides to wait before she signed a contract. She could sign next year, but with how young she is compared to players coming through the college route, it might also make sense to wait another year as well while she continues to develop her game in Japan. Once she does sign, she would be getting the rookie-scale contract that is applicable in that year and it would not carry any guarantee.
The Valkyries currently hold picks 14, 29, and 44 in the next draft. The team famously did not consider their first round pick to hold too much value before this season and the pick being even later next time might mean that it holds even less value. Getting a player who will be on the roster next season at that point would seem unlikely so a trade could be possible again even if would not yield that much of a return.
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