04-07-2025
WNBA Coach Breaks Silence After Cutting Player Following 18-Hour Flight
The Golden State Valkyries are in their inaugural season in the WNBA and have gotten off to a decent start.
But the Valkyries caught some negative attention this week.
On Monday, the team decided to cut Julie Vanloo. The former Washington Mystics player was playing for Team Belgium in the EuroBasket tournament and helped lead them to a title.
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Vanloo then decided to skip the Team Belgium celebration and take a long flight from Europe to the Bay Area to rejoin the team.
Unfortunately, the Valkyries cut her right after she arrived in a gut-wrenching move. Vanloo then took to Instagram with a lengthy post that showed her true feelings on the decision.
On Wednesday, Valkyries head coach Natalia Nakase spoke about that move and had a surprising take.
'From my perspective, I would say that was respectful because whenever a situation like that happens, you bring them in and, as an adult, you say things face to face,' Nakase said. 'I think that was out of respect.'
It's quite the take from the head coach.
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Is it justified? Perhaps. But, it's also noteworthy that Vanloo left the Team Belgium celebration early to fly all the way to join the team and probably did not get much time to re-acclimate to the environment before being cut.
She had appeared in nine games for Golden State before going to Europe and playing for Belgium, so this was certainly a surprising decision, especially with the way things unfolded.
All in all, it isn't the best look for Golden State, and Valkyries general manager Ohemaa Nyanin did not address the media on Wednesday.
Related: WNBA Player Gets Sad News Shortly After Long Flight
WNBA Coach Breaks Silence After Cutting Player Following 18-Hour Flight first appeared on Men's Journal on Jul 3, 2025
