After Sunday’s game the Golden State Valkyries announced that they had signed Ashten Prechtel. With the team suddenly qualifying for a Hardship Contract, it made sense to bring in one more player to fill out the lineup and continue the strong start to the season. It was the latest in a string of moves as training camp closed and the roster had to be set.
Ashten Prechtel
The full rules regarding hardship contracts are still not publicly known as is the case with all details from the new CBA, but based on the past rules, the Valkyries were only able to add a player after Tiffany Hayes and Cecilia Zandalasini missed Sunday’s game. Ashten Prechtel does not replace either of them in a positional sense, but given that having at least three players who could play center if necessary is helpful from a roster composition perspective, it made sense to bring in somebody who could audition for a developmental player spot after the need for the hardship contract is over.
After finishing her college career as a reserve at Stanford, Prechtel was drafted with the 34th pick of the 2023 Draft by the Connecticut Sun. She did not make it to the final roster, but started a whirlwind professional career around the world. Her stops included New Zealand, France’s second division, Australia’s regional leagues, and Hungary before she got another WNBA chance with the Washington Mystics. She started this past season as a teammate of Valkyries draftee Kokoro Tanaka in Japan. After that campaign was over, she signed in Mexico’s league that overlaps with some of the WNBA season. With a training camp offer from the Phoenix Mercury, she left Cancun to compete again, but was waived before opening day.
Prechtel is listed as a forward in news relating to her signing, but she can also play center and hold her own defensively there. She does have the ability to stretch the floor, which might allow her to contribute to spacing in Golden State’s offensive system. While she has had a successful overseas career, it is not clear how it will translate now that she is getting her first regular season chance. In Japan in particular, this is the first season in many years where players who are not Japanese or did not attend school there were allowed in the league and some teams gave their foreigners plenty of minutes while others just had them in complementary roles alongside returning local players. This may not be a long hardship situation, but it is the perfect chance for the Valkyries to assess a player in a position of need to determine how they should handle the roster for the rest of the season.
Ndjakalenga Mwenentanda
Ndjakalenga Mwenentanda signed a contract right before the season opener so the move has not really had its own space for discussion. A roster spot opened up once the league reviewed Golden State’s move to put Iliana Rupert on leave for the season and in terms of availability and familiarity with the team, she was a reasonable pick. It is possible that the team will use upcoming games and practices to assess the best use of the roster spot, but for now she is a player who can fit into the defensive scheme as a power forward.
Kate Martin
There was certainly some question about where Kate Martin would end up after the Valkyries waived here. It was possible that a team would claim her existing contract, which was above the minimum as the third year of her rookie scale contract while also carrying an option for a fourth year. She ended up passing through the process and becoming a free agent, leading to speculation about a return to Golden State. That did not end up happening as the Los Angeles Sparks ended up signing her to a developmental player spot on Saturday. Based on the rest of their roster, this could be a good chance for her to get playing time and sign a regular contract or get signed by another team after two weeks.
Miela Sowah
Developmental player spots have a limit of twelve game activations for the season and Miela Sowah has already been made available for the first two Valkyries games. Teams are utilizing these spots in a variety of ways and her early entry into the lineup may signal Golden State’s intent. There are clearly some teams who are hoping to retain their players for the whole year and possibly have them compete for full roster spots next year. That especially seems to be the case with players who were drafted by the teams that they are with now as it seems that those teams are more cautious about using up those games and possibly also hoping to hide those players from being in demand for full contracts elsewhere in the league.
Other teams, especially those who are signing older players, seem to be utilizing the places as extra roster spots that can help them win as many games as possible. Those teams seem to be keeping players active in games where they do not have a full lineup available with the rest of their roster. With the Valkyries missing players in each game, it made sense to have Sowah dressing out both times. Given the way that the contracts work when it comes to salary calculation, some teams may also be trying to ensure that their players get the maximum amount of salary possible by being active up to the total game limit. That kind of treatment could put those teams in better contention for free agents for those spots in future years by showing that they take care of those players. With this type of contract being completely new, teams are still going to explore their best use over time as the Valkyries still have one empty spot.
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