The Golden State Valkyries Make Their 2025 Draft Picks

After a long wait, the WNBA draft finally arrived on Monday with the Golden State Valkyries getting to make three picks, starting in the first round with the fifth pick with Juste Jocyte. In the second round, the team selected Shyanne Sellers at pick 17. Their choices wrapped up in the third round when they picked Kaitlyn Chen at pick 30. Here is more on each of the selections:

Juste Jocyte, G, Lithuania, Lyon (France)

There were no major surprises in the four picks before the Valkyries so there was intrigue both for Valkyries fans and fans of other teams about which direction that they would go. Given their willingness to select players from around the world and their plan to build not just for this season, there was some belief that they would go with Lithuanian guard Juste Jocyte and that was the direction that they chose. As an international, she is younger than the college players available and internationals often drop below their slot on a pure prospect basis.

A few months ago, it was believed that Jocyte would not be available in this draft. Both of her parents are Lithuanian, but she was born in Washington D.C. while her parents were working in the United States. By the words of the CBA, she would not be able to count as an international, but her agency asked the league for clarification and got a favorable ruling. After starting her senior career in her home country, she moved to Lyon in France with the hype building around her from the time that she became a teenager and she has played there since.

While she has had some setbacks since she exploded on the scene, including dealing with recovery from an injury, she has been healthy this season and played a big role for the team. As a taller guard, she has plenty of experience initiating the offense as well as looking for her own shot. She did help Lithuania qualify for EuroBasket, but she has expressed a willingness to join the league this season as well as a desire to be flexible around her drafting team’s preferences so she could sign this year or wait by mutual decision.

Shyanne Sellers, G, United States, Maryland

With the next pick at 17, the Valkyries had to wait on other teams to make their picks before finding out which players could drop to their spot. By the time the pick rolled around, there were multiple players who had been widely considered first round picks who were still available and the team chose Shyanne Sellers, who had been mentioned in conjunction with the Valkyries earlier pick at 5. Injury concerns may have caused her draft stock to fall slightly, giving the team a chance to make a tremendous value pick.

Sellers headed to Maryland for her college career and made an immediate impact. She had a strong four-year career there and showed her versatility there with both scoring and playmaking. That guard ability at her height makes her more easily project to translating in the modern WNBA in whatever role fits the team best. Given that even a mid-second round pick is not considered a lock to make a final roster, Sellers ended up in a situation where she should have a good chance at earning that spot and getting playing time too this season.

Kaitlyn Chen, G, United States, Connecticut

Third round picks are historically unlikely to make a final roster or play a game in the WNBA, but the Valkyries putting together their first roster without any loyalty to the current players at least gives a chance to that pick or any undrafted free agents that the teams signs later. As the players onsite got picked, the time between selections shortened for broadcast reasons before a dramatic pause as Golden State was on the clock at 30. The reason for the delay ended up being that they picked Kaitlyn Chen, who was not invited to the draft, but was there with the rest of her Connecticut team to support top pick Paige Bueckers.

Chen is a California native who started her college career at Princeton. Unlike some other Ivy League players, she did not withdraw from school for the 2020-21 school year after the league cancelled the basketball season. As a result, she could not continue her college career there after graduating and opting not to declare for the WNBA Draft last year. Familiarity with the playing system and the opportunity to contend for the national championship that they ended up winning made Connecticut a good choice for her final season. She had a reasonable chance of being drafted last year after her strong point guard play as an undergraduate, but a graduate season at a program with a history of professional preparation certainly did not hurt her draft stock and playing alongside another playmaker all season should give her the ability to adjust as she tries to find a WNBA home.