Date, Time, Location: Sunday, June 22nd, 5:30pm PDT, Chase Center
Broadcast Information: KPYX (Bay Area) and KMAX (Sacramento area), NBC Sports Boston (opposition’s home market), WNBA League Pass (out-of-market streaming), KGMZ (radio)
After a big win on the Thursday, the Golden State Valkyries continue their homestand by hosting the Connecticut Sun on Sunday. Their opponents are currently in last place in the standings, but still have players who have game-winning potential. The Valkyries will be looking to start a new win streak while they are at home even as they continue to be missing players.
The Valkyries
The same twelve players will be available for Golden State with no players returning from EuroBasket yet. The Valkyries found plenty of success with some new lineups in the previous game, so the rotation is likely to continue to see tweaks based on matchups and who is playing well in a particular game. Veronica Burton was the player that was selected from Connecticut in the expansion draft process after she had a solid season for them last year. Tiffany Hayes also spent a season playing with the Sun back in 2023.
The Opposition
The Connecticut Sun are in rebuilding mode this season after they made a big push for the championship last year. Their front office went through changes as former player Morgan Tuck was named GM and then they made an unusual move for their new head coach. French coach Rachid Meziane, who had both club and national team experience in Europe, but not in the United States, was hired from French club Villeneuve-d’Ascq, where he had been coaching Carla Leite, and the Belgian national team, where he won the last EuroBasket tournament.
Marina Mabrey, who was the player that they traded for last year with the hope that she would make the difference in the postseason, asked to be traded this offseason, but remains on the roster. She is relied on for scoring and playmaking, but she did briefly leave the last game with an injury that could still be hampering her for this game. With so many players departing through trades or free agency, the other returnee is starting center Olivia Nelson-Ododa.
With two key players asking for trades, Connecticut opted to make one large, consolidated trade involving three other teams. While the Sun got three players back in the deal, two of them were traded before the season, leaving young guard Jacy Sheldon as the one player directly acquired in that move. Point guard Lindsay Allen was part of one of those subsequent trades while they used the draft picks that they gained to pick forward Aneesah Morrow and athletic guard Saniya Rivers, and both players are starting to show why they were first round prospects. The team’s other draft pick this year, center Rayah Marshall, also made the roster.
After losing so many players, the first free agency move for Connecticut was to bring Tina Charles back after more than a decade away from the team where she started her career. She is still one of the most prolific post players in the league and is their leading scorer. They also signed two players who had not been in the league in recent years as forward Haley Peters had been for Rachid Meziane in France while Bria Hartley was signed right at the end of training camp to give them another veteran guard presence.
Ivorian center Kariata Diaby made the roster in her first time in training camp after she also had past experience playing for Rachid Meziane. The Sun made a change in their backcourt after their season began, filling the vacant roster spot with former Cal player Jaelyn Brown in her second season in the league. Connecticut has thirteen players on the roster due to having enough salary cap space while last year’s top draft pick Leila Lacan is playing for the French national team, but they would have to make a move once she reports to the team after EuroBasket.
Connecticut opened their season with five consecutive losses, including giving up a pair of late leads. They won their first game at Indiana to close out May only to suffer a massive blowout in New York in the next game. Their other win came against Atlanta in a bounceback effort, but they have now lost another five games in a row since then. They did challenge the Dallas team that was the last Valkyries loss in their last game on Friday, but could not do enough to get the lead in the final quarter and will be looking to compete after making the long trip to San Francisco.
Leave a Reply