NEW YORK — When the Golden State Valkyries were awarded a WNBA franchise on Oct. 3, 2023, the work began to try to correct the disadvantages that every other expansion team faces.
Not only with finding the right people to lead, but also the complex, arduous task of building a team once the framework of a front office is decided.
That task is now in the hands of Valkyries general manager Ohemaa Nyanin and head coach Natalie Nakase, who spent the previous three seasons with the Las Vegas Aces, helping them win two WNBA championships.
Even before Monday night’s WNBA draft, Nyanin clarified what kind of player they sought.
‘We aren’t looking for the face of our franchise just yet,’ Nyanin said last week. ‘We need to build our identity, and throughout the season, hopefully, the face of the franchise emerges. I want it to be an organic process. Who is going to earn it? I don’t want it to just be given to anybody.’
‘I genuinely believe that if you work really hard at (becoming the face of a franchise), then you don’t mismanage it once it’s been given to you.’
The future started Monday night at the 2025 WNBA draft when the Valkyries, the first expansion team to enter the league since the Atlanta Dream in 2008, selected Justė Jocytė from Lithuania at No. 5 overall with their first-ever pick. The 19-year-old Jocyte, at 6-foot, can defend multiple positions and is a combo guard, whose offensive game shows that she has range from beyond the arc. She no doubt will need to get tougher, however, especially against the physical inside players, once inside the paint.
Jocytė, who doesn’t turn 20 until Nov. 19, averaged 12.7 points, 2.7 assists and 1.8 steals per game for Lyon ASVEL of the Ligue Féminine de Basketball. She is expected to compete for her country in the FIBA Women’s EuroBasket 2025, so her availability is still a question mark.
‘The national team is always my priority,’ Jocytė told Basketnews. ‘If the WNBA told me I couldn’t go and I had to choose, I would definitely choose the national team. I know that there is a possibility to arrange when you can be released a few weeks in advance, and this is a negotiation with the clubs about the dates.’
The Valkyries added Maryland star Shyanne Sellers with their second-round pick (No. 17 overall).Sellers did it all during an impressive four-year collegiate career for the Terrapins, becoming the first player in program history to clear 1,500 points, 500 rebounds, and 500 assists.
With their third selection of the night, Golden State took Kaitlyn Chen with the fifth pick of the third roud (No. 30 overall). Chen teamed with No. 1 overall pick Paige Bueckers to lead the UConn Huskies to the 2025 national championship.
Very few professional teams have made the playoffs in their first season, but the Valkyries have some advantages, that few, especially in the WNBA, have. The team already has a state-of-the-art practice facility and was the first league team to sell 10,000 season tickets.
But even Nyanin said she didn’t know what Valkyries will look like once the season starts. In December’s expansion draft, Golden State selected 11 players, including guard Kate Martin from the Las Vegas Aces and former New York Liberty forward Kayla Thornton. Seven of those expansion draft players are international.
‘We’re taking our sweet time to define that because once you define it—coming from experience—it’s really hard to change it,’ Nyanin said.
Like every other WNBA team, the time to find that out will be very short as the Valkyries’ first regular-season game will be against the Los Angeles Sparks on May 16.
