How the Golden State Valkyries constructed their first WNBA roster

Golden State Valkyries general manager Ohemaa Nyanin and vice president of basketball operations Vanja Černivec met in Nyanin’s office last week to begin a chapter in the franchise’s history.

Although Golden State’s expansion draft picks were announced Friday, the team had to submit them a day earlier. Before lunchtime Thursday, they met to mark the occasion. “Should I hit send?” Nyanin asked Černivec, who was her first hire.

Černivec said yes. So Nyanin did, emailing her selections to the league for the WNBA’s first expansion draft since 2008. “It was a special moment,” Nyanin said. “(We were) like, ‘The journey has begun officially.’”

Nyanin said the Valkyries’ process was “complex” as they considered different versions of their roster selections. They received the official list of protections from the WNBA on Nov. 25, but by then, they had already done plenty of preparation.

Nyanin, Černivec, head coach Natalie Nakase, a few scouts and an analytics staff member shouldered the effort. Before receiving teams’ official protections, members of the Valkyries’ brain trust watched film on every player they thought would be draft-eligible. They ran through mock drafts, made presentations and had countless conversations about whether players would fit Nakase’s philosophies. Nyanin declined to share exactly how many iterations they planned but said, “Excel has become our best friend. All of us know how to use it very well.”

When Golden State received the protections list two weeks before the expansion draft, it wasn’t exactly like any of its mock scenarios. Still, by that time, Nyanin and Nakase knew the kinds of players they were seeking. Nakase wanted ultra-competitive, high-character athletes with a never-satisfied mindset. Nyanin said they wanted players with an “attention to detail on offense.” Golden State wants to play a fast pace, shoot a lot of 3s and aim to employ a physical defense. Its picks included former Las Vegas Aces guard Kate Martin, Connecticut Sun guard Veronica Burton and New York Liberty forward Kayla Thornton.

Though the Valkyries’ regular season begins May 16, a later series of dates was also critical in their selection process. EuroBasket, a quadrennial tournament featuring Europe’s top national teams, starts in late June. Golden State’s front office needed to be especially cognizant of it because the Valkyries play 11 games in June, and seven of their 11 picks are foreign players who might be in the tournament or decide against competing in the WNBA this season because of it.

To Nyanin, the selections shouldn’t have been surprising to anyone. Nyanin’s decision to hire Černivec signaled a global approach to team-building. Before joining the Valkyries, Černivec helped lead the NBA Academy Women’s Program, was the NBA’s first female international scout and was the general manager of the London Lions, guiding the franchise to its first EuroCup Women’s championship. Her title-winning roster featured one of Golden State’s eventual expansion draft selections: center Temi Fagbenle from the Indiana Fever.

Nyanin said she discussed trades with multiple WNBA teams, yet Golden State did not make pre-draft moves. Nakase said all 11 players will have the opportunity to compete for minutes, though it’s unlikely everyone selected Friday will be on the Valkyries’ opening-night roster. The expansion draft is merely a starting point, with free agency and April’s 2025 WNBA Draft as opportunities to best prepare for the upcoming season.

Before teams can begin negotiating with free agents on Jan. 21, Nakase said she will spend time building relationships with their draftees. But first up is recovering from a whirlwind of a weekend. Nyanin and Černivec celebrated with champagne Friday night, while Nakase, prone to headaches from a glass of bubbly, went with a red Cabernet. They made video calls to their selections. Former Washington Mystics guard Julie Vanloo became emotional when she learned the Valkyries drafted her. “I’m hungry for it. You’re not gonna be disappointed that you chose me,” Nakase recalled Vanloo telling her.

“To be selected in an expansion draft is an honor, and we want them to get to know us,” Nyanin said. “The completeness of our team is yet to be determined, and we feel really, really good about how we started this journey with these 11 athletes that we selected.”

— ’s Sabreena Merchant contributed to this report.

This article originally appeared in The Athletic.

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