The Golden State Valkyries Make Their First Signings

After a quiet opening to free agency, the Golden State Valkyries made their first signings on Monday, officially inking three of the players that they selected in the Expansion Draft to bring their total of players under contract up to six. Rumors that they had been pursuing other free agents unsuccessfully had filtered out and they still have a number of roster spots to work on filling out before the entry draft.

Julie Vanloo and Veronica Burton Sign Offers

The Valkyries extended four qualifying offers at the start of free agency to maintain the rights to players that they had selected in the expansion draft process. Julie Vanloo and Veronica Burton signed those offers, both at the minimum salary for players at their experience level. It was not a surprise for Veronica Burton to sign, but Julie Vanloo’s plans were going to be less clear with Belgium planning to defend their EuroBasket crown in June. Signing now could be an indication that she plans on being on the team for the whole season and missing some games to compete with her national team.

Monique Billings Signs Contract

The first player who could have signed for another team to join the Valkyries is Monique Billings, who was not extended the core qualifying offer that would have entitled her to sign at the maximum allowable salary after Golden State selected her during the expansion draft process. The reporting of her final decision came during the negotiation period, but the official announcement was made on Monday. Sourced reporting of the terms of her contract should be available soon and given that such information has been filtering out about other free agents, it will be possible to figure out what other offers she might have been getting elsewhere.

Missed Targets

Kendra Andrews of ESPN and Marisa Ingemi of the San Francisco Chronicle were the first people to report on some of the specific plans that the team had at the start of free agency. Multiple star level players were traded this year and the Valkyries wanted to trade for Kelsey Plum who had plenty of experience with Natalie Nakase with the Las Vegas Aces. They did not have the assets, especially on the player side to compete with what other teams could offer so it did not end up being a surprise that their offers were not accepted. For the players under core contracts, they would also have needed to agree to join the Valkyries in order for the trade to occur.

In terms of free agents, the Valkyries pursued Courtney Vandersloot to try to secure an experienced point guard to run the offense, which would have been a big help for a team that will lack familiarity with one another when they start training camp. She opted to return to the Chicago Sky, another team with a need at that role. Golden State also pursued Brionna Jones, who was probably the top free agent that the team had any realistic shot at signing. She ended up choosing the Atlanta Dream at the maximum salary to join a squad that figures to be solidly in the playoffs.

Decreasing Options

There were plenty of other free agency signings by other teams with stars, rotation players, backups, and international rookies all coming off the board as options. It seems pretty clear at this point that the Valkyries will not have a path towards a star signing, but there are still a number of players with significant WNBA experience who could help the team in the first year. The team could also aggressively pursue undrafted international rookies as well as Americans with limited or no WNBA experience as many have made immediate impacts over the years.

As other teams make moves, they may need to make trades to clear roster space and Golden State’s remaining cap space makes them a candidate for receiving those players without not needing to give up much in return. Teams have already started waiving some of the players under unguaranteed contracts to clear space or to let players who they know will not make the roster get early starts on finding new homes. The Valkyries could put in a waiver claim for players who they think might also be a target of another team or wait until the player clears that process to offer them a contract.

Salary Cap Floor

With so much unutilized salary cap space right now, it is possible that the Valkyries will not only have space for the rest of the season, but also finish below the 5/6 of the maximum figure that is the minimum for a team to reach. While they will be looking to fill some of that space with free agents or trades, if they do not increase their salary cap figure enough, then the players who are in the roster will get additional money reflecting the difference between the amounts. As a result, the players who are on the team could get benefits above their existing contracts.