How will Golden State Valkyries' debut roster be crafted? No one knows

PHOENIX — The Golden State Valkyries have little sense of the structure for the upcoming expansion draft, and apparently neither does anyone else just 10 months before the franchise’s first game.

Appearing at their first league event, the Valkyries’ front-office staff left All-Star Weekend without any more answers about their process of entering the league in 2025. They know the expansion draft will sometime in December and that they will participate in free agency and the collegiate draft at dates to be determined, but they await league guidance about the format of all of the above before they officially enter the league.

The expansion draft “will occur most likely in December of this year because we need to do it,” WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert said. “And then we have the draft lottery and then the NCAA season concludes and then we have our draft. Our teams are aware. We’ll make final decisions and make those announcements in the coming months.”

The WNBA hasn’t had an expansion team since the Atlanta Dream joined the league in 2008. In that expansion draft, each team was able to protect six roster players — and could have no more than two players selected — and the Dream were awarded the fourth pick in the college draft.




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