The Golden State Valkyries Announce Three More Signings

The Golden State Valkyries made three more signings and announced them on Tuesday, bringing their roster size up to a total of nine players. The international flavor of their transactions so far continued with all three newcomers not being American, making the majority of the roster international now. Even though the roster is filling up, not all of these players are likely to make the final roster so more signings should be expected even before the entry draft.

Janelle Salaun

A player who suddenly emerged in the runup to the 2021 draft, Salaun ended up not being picked that year, but her development continued. Starting out as a more defensively-oriented forward, she has continued to add to her offensive arsenal over time. WNBA pundits who focus heavily on the international scene considered her one of the top free agents who had never been in the league before and the Valkyries like faced competition in securing her signature and the chance at more playing time would have helped.

After playing in her native France for her entire career, she moved to the Italian league this season to play for Schio, one of the top teams there, and she has been excellent for them. Their season is likely to run into the start of training camp and she might also miss some time to play for the national team as she has increased her role there. Her younger brother Tidjane was picked in the last NBA Draft and he is playing for the Charlotte Hornets.

Chloe Bibby

An offensive-minded forward, Bibby played for Mississippi State and Maryland in college and then signed with the Minnesota Lynx after going undrafted in 2022, but was waived before the season. After returning to Australia for her first professional season, she headed to Europe and made an immediate impact in Poland with Gorzow, moving to Girona in the Spanish league this season to play at an even higher level.

She is the second leading scorer in the Spanish league right now and the team has reached the quarterfinals of EuroCup so her scoring prowess definitely merits a second chance at a WNBA roster. While there are often concerns about foreign players wanting to play in the league, that does not apply as much to Australians, who have a tougher path to the largest overseas salaries. Like many other Australians, Bibby has experience playing all year long, suiting up in local leagues after her main seasons are done.

Kyara Linskens

Basketball continues to emerge in Belgium as the national team is in the middle of a fantastic run on the continental and global stages. Linskens was not necessarily thought of a top-tier prospect when she was younger and she went undrafted in 2016. As she continued to grow her reputation, she left the local team to play elsewhere in Europe and has played in five different countries.

Her contributions to the Belgian national team have been reported, but her current club team is Dynamo Kursk in Russia, which also has the only player in the league who was in the WNBA last season on their roster. A center who offers a presence on the defensive end, her path to making the final roster would be to help counter the taller centers in the league.

Salary Cap Situation

After our last article was published, Richard Cohen of Her Hoop Stats, the most authoritative source on player contracts, reported that Monique Billings signed a contract with a guaranteed $110,000 salary for this season. That news means that there are now three guaranteed contracts totaling $347,000 on the team. The other five contracts signed during this free agency period are unguaranteed at the minimum allowable salary, $78,831 for Veronica Burton and $66,079 for everyone else. Kate Martin is still on her rookie scale contract with a $68,595 salary for this season.

Even though the other six contracts are unguaranteed, Burton and Martin will almost certainly make the final roster and Julie Vanloo and Janelle Salaun should also be in that category. The 5th pick in the draft is also likely to occupy a roster spot unless it is used in a trade and would carry a $75,643 salary cap figure. If Carla Leite wishes to come over this year, the team would also likely be happy to have her on a rookie scale contract that would start at $72,455 for this year. Temi Fagbenle remains unsigned and some of these other moves now give both sides the knowledge that there should be enough salary cap space to sign her at well above the minimum salary. The team also has the exclusive signing rights with Cecilia Zandalasini and Iliana Rupert. For the now the team remains well below the salary cap figure of $1,507,100 in use this year, giving them a number of options this season.