The results of the 2026 Expansion Draft were announced on Friday and the Golden State Valkyries lost two players as expected. Carla Leite was selected by the Portland Fire with the third selection in the first round and Maria Conde was selected by the Toronto Tempo with the first selection in the second round. The team had tough protection decisions to make and how early both players were picked showed that they had to make good players available. The schedule for free agency has not been decided yet, but the Valkyries now know which players they still have signing rights for once that begins.
Carla Leite
Portland used the first pick of the draft on Bridget Carleton, using their one unrestricted free agent selection on her and making sure that Toronto could not pick her. They then selected Carla Leite with their next pick, third overall. She was likely one of the toughest decisions that the Valkyries had to make knowing that she was almost certainly going to be picked if she was left unprotected. Her youth and contract status having played one year on her rookie contract made her an obvious early selection.
Leite is on the move for a second straight season after Golden State picked her from Dallas in their expansion draft. She quickly became a fan favorite and showed flashes of brilliance among moments of youth and inexperience. She did not play as much in the key regular season games or playoffs, but she will be younger than many of this year’s rookie class. After making the jump to the United States, she also changed European leagues by heading to Spain this season.
Maria Conde
While the initial ESPN broadcast depiction of the draft had Maria Conde being picked in the first round, the rules of the expansion draft meant that the second player from a team could only be picked in the second round. Toronto had both the last pick of the first round and the first pick of the second round so they passed on that earlier selection and went ahead and selected her with the following pick.
Conde was picked in this process for the second straight season after being the Golden State pick from Chicago, where she was originally drafted and had signed her first contract. An injury prevented her from even trying to make a decision on whether to join the Valkyries last year, but she is healthy this year and has been one of the better players in Europe. The WNBA’s attitude towards national team play has contributed to her not showing up as she has valued her contribution to Spain’s national team, but she did make more encouraging remarks about the possibility after she was selected last year.
Remaining Roster
Now that the draft is complete, the Valkyries now know what contract status their players have while they wait for free agency to begin. Carla Leite’s selection means that they actually only have Kate Martin under contract now. Retaining Cecilia Zandalasini means that they have both her and Veronica Burton as restricted free agents and will look to keep both even if it is not clear what salary that result in for either of them.
Through protections and other players being selected, the Valkyries do keep their four reserved players in Janelle Salaun, Iliana Rupert, Laeticia Amihere, and Kaitlyn Chen. Since the team retains exclusive negotiating rights with them, they should be brought back at good value. The expansion teams used their unrestricted free agent picks on players from other teams so the Valkyries still have the ability to bring all of them back this year.
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