Las Vegas Aces guard Kate Martin and New York Liberty forward Kayla Thornton headlined the group of 11 players selected by the Golden State Valkyries in Friday’s WNBA expansion draft.
Golden State also drafted Iliana Rupert (Atlanta Dream), Maria Conde (Chicago Sky), Veronica Burton (Connecticut Sun), Carla Leite (Dallas Wings), Temi Fagbenle (Indiana Fever), Stephanie Talbot (Los Angeles Sparks), Cecilia Zandalasini (Minnesota Lynx), Monique Billings (Phoenix Mercury) and Julie Vanloo (Washington Mystics).
The Valkyries are set to debut as the league’s 13th franchise in May.
“We are excited to have officially started the journey of building the Golden State Valkyries 2025 team,” general manager Ohemaa Nyanin said in a release. “Our goal was to construct a roster that embodies both versatility and depth, bringing in a strong mix of leadership, defense, and scoring ability. These players were carefully chosen not only for their skills on the court, but also for their ability to fit into the culture we’re working to build here at Golden State.”
Both Martin and Thornton were linked to Golden State in reports hours before the draft.
Martin averaged 2.6 points and 1.6 rebounds in 34 games (two starts) last season as a rookie, while Thornton averaged 5.5 points as a steady veteran mostly used off the bench by the Liberty en route to their first WNBA title.
Thornton is one of the Valkyries’ four new players who have won a championship. Fagbenle and Zandalasini were on Minnesota’s title team in 2017, while Rupert won with Las Vegas in 2022.
Golden State’s roster has seven international players: Conde (Spain), Fagbenle (United Kingdom), Leite (France), Rupert (France), Talbot (Australia), Vanloo (Belgium) and Zandalasini (Italy).
The Valkyries designated Billings as their “Core” player, meaning the team has exclusive negotiating rights to her in exchange for an offer of a one-year, fully guaranteed contract at the maximum salary.
Billings has the second-most WNBA experience (seven seasons) behind Thornton (nine). Conde and Leite have never played a WNBA game.
Golden State picked from a pool of players made available by the league’s other 12 teams. Each team had designated up to six players on its roster who would not be available for the Valkyries to select. The Seattle Storm were the only team to not have a player chosen.
The public will not be informed which players went undrafted. Those players will remain with their team.
–Field Level Media
