The Golden State Valkyries Make Their 1st Moves for EuroBasket

With EuroBasket, the continental championship for national teams, starting on June 18th, the Golden State Valkyries will have to make some moves to cover the absence of some players during that time. The first moves were made on Sunday and there will be more on the way to keep the team at a full roster. Cecilia Zandalasini is headed to Italy’s national team and her contract has been suspended in her absence. Kyara Linskens has been waived and Laeticia Amihere has been signed.

Cecilia Zandalasini

Cecilia Zandalasini left the team after Saturday’s game to join Italy’s national team in their final preparations for the tournament. They have two exhibition games on Tuesday and Wednesday when they travel to Czechia and then return home to play Montenegro on Friday. Italy is one of the host teams for the tournament so they face Serbia, Slovenia, and Lithuania in Bologna. Zandalasini’s contract has been temporarily suspended, which means that she will not be paid by the team while she is away. Her contract total does not get removed from the salary cap, but her roster spot is now vacant. She will need to return to the team within 48 hours of the end of Italy’s run in the tournament.

Kyara Linskens

Having not played much so far this season, Kyara Linskens has now been waived by the Valkyries. The other teams in the league will have the opportunity to claim her existing contract and add her to their roster before she becomes a free agent again, but it seems unlikely that any team would do so right now. Linskens had committed to staying with Golden State during EuroBasket and not joining Belgium’s national team, but she will now be heading to their training camp. she was likely going to the player who would be waived to make room for another player later in the season so this move just speeds up that process. If a team were to claim her off waivers, she would no longer count in the Valkyries salary cap total, but if she clears waivers, then only the salary that she has earned so far would count in that figure for the rest of the season.

Laeticia Amihere

The Valkyries already filled one of the newly created roster spots, bringing back Laeticia Amihere after waiving her at the end of training camp. The terms of the contract have not been revealed yet, but Golden State has enough salary cap space to offer her a regular contract and instead of the hardship contracts that capped out teams have to offer that pay less than the league minimum. Amihere’s experience with the team’s system should help her contribute immediately if needed. There may have been concern about Amihere defending centers in the league earlier, but the team has had success running smallball lineup where she would fit at center as her offensive skillset fits the team’s system well.