Does WNBA Prioritization Affect the Golden State Valkyries?

With WNBA training camps opening today, there has been plenty of discussion about the WNBA’s prioritization rule as players hurry back from playing basketball around the world. Even though this is the third year of the rule being in effect, there are still some misconceptions about which players it affects and what limitations exist. With the added complication of continental tournaments for national team play this season, it is a good time to review the rules.

Valkyries Players Affected

Not all players are subject to the prioritization rules as they must have accumulated three or more years of service in the league to qualify. There are some instances in which playing in the league during a season does not qualify a player for a year of service so their transaction data must be reviewed to verify their status. The Valkyries have eighteen players under contract, but the only seven players who meet the criteria are Kayla Thornton, Stephanie Talbot, Temi Fagbenle, Tiffany Hayes, Veronica Burton, Cecilia Zandalasini, and Monique Billings.

Attending Training Camp

Players who are subject to the rule must report to training camp either when it opens or on May 1st, whichever is later, so those players must be there by the start of the month this year, which will be a mild scramble for a few players. Some players have clauses in their overseas contracts that allow them to leave the team early, but a player who is under contract with a team in the FIBA ecosystem, like the local WPBA league, cannot play in a WNBA game until paperwork is filed stating that they have completed their other contractual agreements in accordance with the agreement between FIBA and the NBA, which does not participate in the sanctioned basketball system.

Banned from the League This Year

It would be unlikely that a player under contract would miss the deadline on purpose, but if they do not report by May 1st, the league will suspend the player for the entire season. For players without WNBA contracts, they are banned from signing with the league if they have a contract with another basketball team playing on the day that training camp opens or later. While many of the players affected by this have not been in the league for some time, there are players who were in the WNBA last season who have removed themselves from consideration for this season.

We keep an updated tracker for another general women’s basketball site that includes players who are not eligible to sign a WNBA contract this season that can be found here:
https://wbasketballblog.com/2025/04/27/2025-wnba-prioritization-tracker/

Leaving During the Season

The big concern for most fans is when players leave their teams for national team duty as most competitions happen during the WNBA season. Players are now limited by the prioritization rules, only being able to leave their teams two weeks before tournaments start and needing to return within 48 hours of their team finishing play. Only players subject to the rules are affected by this so Cecilia Zandalasini for Italy and Temi Fagbenle for Great Britain would need to follow these rules if they head to EuroBasket this summer. Violating this rule also puts the following season in jeopardy so players are going to avoid breaking it.

All of the other Valkyries players are allowed to leave sooner than two weeks or report to the team late. National teams are allowed to have mandatory training camp four weeks before a tournament and some of the more prosperous federations can even afford to start before then. The team can suspend player contracts when they are away from the team, which means that they do not receive the salary for those days, but that does not affect how the player’s salary cap figure is calculated. There is no rule against not signing a contract until later in the season after national team duty is finished, which can be a salary cap benefit to the team.