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San Francisco Chronicle
15-05-2025
- Sport
- San Francisco Chronicle
Valkyries' 5 key questions for 2025: What's realistic for an expansion team?
As the WNBA season tips off Friday, the Golden State Valkyries, the league's first expansion team in over 15 years, are a sort of blueprint for what's ahead. With a roster built from veteran role players, international stars and promising young talent, expectations are cautiously optimistic, but history offers a sobering reminder: Expansion teams rarely win early. Still, the Valkyries have pieces that could surprise. Here are five questions that will define their debut season. What's realistic as an expansion team? The last expansion team, the 2008 Atlanta Dream, finished their inaugural season with a 4-30 record. Of the seven WNBA teams to post a sub-.150 win percentage, three were expansion teams in their debut seasons. That includes the 2006 Chicago Sky (5-29, .147). 'Nothing is built overnight,' Valkyries guard Tiffany Hayes said. 'We know practices are different from games. We can have as many practices as we want, but we're going to need game experience to build chemistry.' Most media outlets have picked the Valkyries to finish near the bottom — ahead of Connecticut, which lost its entire starting lineup after making the semifinals last season, and Washington, expected to be among the league's worst. Nobody expects the Valkyries to be a playoff team, but their upside is higher than some. Carla Leite and Janelle Salaün are European stars, and if their games translate, the veteran-led squad might spring a few surprises. Will the Valkyries score enough? Hayes, who averaged 9.5 points per game off the bench last season, is the top returning scorer on the Valkyries' roster and will likely be their offensive leader. 'I know the biggest thing for me, for this team, is that I can get past almost anybody in this league,' Hayes said. 'So that's kind of like my role, I have to be a playmaker. So if I'm getting past somebody, of course, I'm going to be in the paint. That's when I need to make the right read. … You're either going up to score, or you're finding an open person.' Beyond Hayes, the offensive picture is less clear. The projected starting five have a combined total of 66 WNBA starts with more than half of them (34) coming from point guard Julie Vanloo during her time with the Mystics. There are some promising stats: Vanloo posted the seventh-best assist rate in the league last season (30.8%), and Cecilia Zandalasini shot 44.3% from 3-point range, the sixth-best mark in the WNBA. 'This is the first time I've been on a team where I don't have to come in learning a system or feeling like I need to catch up,' forward Kayla Thornton said. 'We're all starting from the same point. It's also the first time I've played with so many internationals, which has been an honor. They bring a different discipline and style of play that we're learning from.' How will EuroBasket impact the season? Several Valkyries — Kyara Linskens, Temi Fagbenle, Salaün, Vanloo and Zandalasini — are expected to compete in the EuroBasket tournament this June. The top six finishers will earn a spot in one of the qualifying tournaments for the 2026 FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup. That could leave the team short-handed, forcing the Valkyries to sign players to hardship contracts during that stretch, as they could have up to five spots to fill over at least five games. Four of those players are in the frontcourt. Leite's decision to stay could ease the loss of Vanloo for a bit, especially if Burton also starts strong, but the other departures would leave the Valkyries with just Billings and Talbot as their bigs. For a team that needs to build chemistry, the pending interruption in June will be challenging. Can role players become central figures? The Valkyries aren't the least experienced team in the league in terms of minutes played; that distinction currently belongs to Connecticut and Washington. Thanks to the expansion draft, the Valkyries added multiple established rotation players even if many of them weren't regular starters last season. Most players are being asked to stretch far beyond their prior roles. Kayla Thornton was a 3-and-D player off the bench. Kate Martin was primarily a spot-up shooter. Veronica Burton served as a defensive specialist, and Fagbenle came off Indiana's bench to space the floor. 'It's a big responsibility,' Fagbenle said. 'It's one I take in full stride. I'm happy to be in this role. I'm used to doing whatever I need to do for my team to win, whatever that looks like. Being in a fairly new role in the W poses a great challenge for me.' What happens to the roster after this season? The 2025-26 offseason is shaping up to be transformative for the WNBA. With Toronto and Portland entering the league and creating 24 new roster spots, player movement could be significant. Nearly every non-rookie contract in the league is set to expire, including those of all Valkyries players except Leite and Martin. This sets the stage for a potential roster overhaul. The Valkyries will have cap space to work with, but so will nearly every other team. High-profile Bay Area-native free agents such as Sabrina Ionescu and Chelsea Gray could be available. First-round pick Juste Jocyte will also join the team next year, and if she makes the final roster, she will be one of the few core players the Valkyries can build around.
San Francisco Chronicle
10-05-2025
- Sport
- San Francisco Chronicle
For Valkyries' Carla Leite, country, league and language are all new
When Carla Leite was drafted ninth overall by Dallas in 2024, she didn't feel ready for the WNBA's pace or for representing a team outside of France for the first time. But in her first WNBA action, in the Golden State Valkyries' preseason opener Tuesday, she looked anything but cautious. The 5-foot-9 Leite scored four points and dished out three assists in just under 16 minutes. While she made a few rookie mistakes, she also displayed the kind of offensive spark as a driver to the hoop that the Valkyries want. After selecting Leite in December's expansion draft, her commitment to playing in the U.S. had been uncertain. But once she confirmed she would join the team, the Valkyries began planning her long-term future with the club. 'Carla is fearless,' said head coach Natalie Nakase. 'Anytime she sees a (shooting) lane, she just goes. That's hard, because she's small, but she has that fearless mindset and I admire that.' Leite might be the Valkyries' biggest wild card. If the 21-year-old point guard lives up to her potential, she could eventually become a starter and one of the team's most valuable playmakers. Her defense showed some vulnerabilities when she came off the bench as the second point guard on Tuesday, and she committed three turnovers, not uncommon for a rookie. She said she wants to be more physical and 'use my body on the court more,' which she thinks is the toughest adjustment to the WNBA level so far. 'It's complicated because it's my first time playing in a foreign place,' Leite, 21, told the Chronicle on Friday. 'I have just (played) in France. So I think I need to adapt myself. We have a nice group, it's a safe place. The girls have helped me a lot, and I am grateful for that.' Off the court, Leite is still finding her footing in a new country with a new language. Still learning English, she's hesitant to speak it. She's had help from Belgian point guard Julie Vanloo – who speaks four languages, including French – and who has played against Leite in Europe over the past few seasons. That includes when Leite won EuroCup Women Finals MVP after leading Villeneuve d'Ascq LM to the 2024–25 championship. 'She's an amazing player,' Vanloo said. 'She's young, but she already has so much experience. She's playing already in such a mature way, because she's been playing in France in a very good league. She won the EuroCup. Those are big games. Those were games with a lot of stress. Carla's a great player. She's shifty, she's quick, she's fearless on the court.' With Vanloo and fourth-year player Veronica Burton, the Valkyries have other options at the point while Leite adjusts. Vanloo is a strong facilitator while Burton was a defensive specialist with Connecticut before the Valkyries took her in the expansion draft. As one of the few rookies on the roster, Leite has a three-year deal with the Valkyries. Every player other than Leite, Kaityln Chen, Laeticia Amihere and Kate Martin are on one-year deals. That means Leite could be one of the Valkyries' few long-term building blocks. 'I have never played in front of a lot of (people) like that,' Leite said of the preseason game. 'I was shocked a little bit, but I know I have to just play my game. I know I can do a lot on the fast break and bring a lot of energy.' Tuesday's showing was the first glimpse of the style Leite wants to bring. On an expansion team with room to grow, she has an opportunity to break out as one of the Valkyries' key players this season. 'I am ready now,' Leite said. 'I love this experience, I want to be in it 100%. Being here is my goal.'
San Francisco Chronicle
09-05-2025
- Sport
- San Francisco Chronicle
Valkyries point guard Julie Vanloo has become key as a translator for teammates
Julie Vanloo leaned to her right while Carla Leite spoke in her ear. It was the first time that Leite, the Golden State Valkyries' 21-year-old rookie point guard, was talking to the media and she was still learning English. Vanloo sat between Leite and Italian forward Cecilia Zandalasini and listened as Leite explained how she wanted to answer a question in French. 'She's young, she showed that she controlled her maturity and she knew she had to step up, and she already had a lot of responsibility,' Vanloo said for Leite about her performance in Tuesday's preseason game. 'And then in stressful situations, you know, she had to stay calm, this was a new situation to her.' She paused, then added, 'I also think she did that very well.' The 32-year-old Belgian point guard has become the Valkyries' impromptu team translator throughout training camp. With players from six countries — the U.S., France, Australia, Canada, Italy and Belgium — Vanloo's ability to speak four languages has helped bridge the gap between players and even some coaches. The second-year WNBA player can speak Flemish, the version of Dutch spoken in Belgium, along with English, French and Italian. The Valkyries' international flair was on display Tuesday when they fell 83-82 to the Los Angeles Sparks in the preseason opener. Along with minutes from Vanloo and Leite, Belgian center Kyara Linskens led the team with eight rebounds and French guard Migna Toure also made a brief appearance. Vanloo is one of the Valkyries' most important facilitators on the court. She averaged 7.4 assists per game last season while starting 34 contests for the Washington Mystics. Her 30.8 assist percentage was seventh in the WNBA last season. Off the court, she facilitates in a different way. 'For basketball, I was very, very motivated to learn languages,' Vanloo said. 'So definitely it helps to communicate with my teammates. To quickly switch, switch up in my head to speak a different language, because, let's be honest, it's not easy for the other team, if you talk French, they don't understand. So it can help.' The Valkyries' 32-point third-quarter unit Tuesday included two Belgians in Linskens and Vanloo; Leite, who is French, and Americans Kate Martin and Laeticia Amihere. 'I think it is dope,' Amihere said of having multiple languages spoken in the locker room. Outside of Leite, the team's other international players have varying degrees of comfort with English, something that can be especially challenging when working on plays on the court, where Vanloo can translate quickly. The team does not employ a translator. Nakase doesn't speak French, Flemish or Italian. Some assistant coaches dabble in French, but Nakase said they are mostly relying on Vanloo. Vanloo said that growing up, she didn't love school but enjoyed studying different languages because she knew it could one day benefit her as a basketball player, especially if she played internationally. Belgian children start learning songs in English and French at age 6, Vanloo said. When they're 12, students are drilled in both languages, she said. 'It was like six to nine hours per week,' Vanloo said. 'All our (TV) series and even our cartoons are in English. We use subtitles on French, so that's how we actually learn the accent and everything. So that's for all the kids out there, language is important. It's an advantage. I think you are rich when you know multiple languages, because it's just easy to communicate and to create a bond with people.' She knew she wanted to play in the WNBA, where there would be players from different countries, and focused on perfecting both languages and added Italian into the mix. That's come in handy for a Valkyries team that has the second most international players in the league, behind the New York Liberty. 'It's been really key, just the way we can connect that way,' Nakase said. 'Imagine going to another country and you're just, you have no idea (the language). When I played in Germany, I really wasn't understanding. … So it's been nice to have Julie, because she's listening, she's doing extra for a teammate.' Vanloo is expected to be the Valkyries' starting point guard when the regular season begins. Her contributions will be more than just points and assists. 'Julie does such a great job with bringing us all together,' said rookie shooting guard Kaitlyn Chen. 'She always has so much energy, too, and she sort of just uplifts the building.'
San Francisco Chronicle
29-04-2025
- Sport
- San Francisco Chronicle
Valkyries putting early focus on guard corps and the ability to defend
Julie Vanloo went through all of this last year. As a WNBA rookie with the Washington Mystics, she had to adjust to new teammates and a new playing style. The newness around the Golden State Valkyries isn't as overwhelming for the 32-year-old this time. The Belgian point guard started 34 games with the Mystics and was one of the more surprising unprotected players available in December's expansion draft after showing she could handle the league. Vanloo knows her strong WNBA debut isn't the best she can do, though, and is looking to grow in her sophomore season as the Valkyries' top point guard. 'I think last year, being new to the league, sometimes I was a bit shy,' she said. 'I want to be aggressive, to score and to pass much more than I was last year. I'm more used to the league now, so I know what to expect. I think I grew a lot last year, I'm very excited to show that and I know I can do better. I know that I'm 32, but I feel like I have a lot of progress still to make.' The Valkyries' first preseason game is May 6. The season opener is May 16. Vanloo was seventh in the WNBA assist percentage (30.8) — and that came with a Mystics team that was ninth in the league in scoring. With a potentially multifaceted Valkyries offense that has inside scorers like Temi Fagbenle and Monique Billings who can run and a shooter like Tiffany Hayes, Vanloo could blossom into one of the league's best playmakers. Vanloo will likely get the first chance to lead the position, but she's not alone in the backcourt. Behind her, two very different options will be pushing for minutes. Fourth-year guard Veronica Burton carved out a role as a defensive stopper off the bench with Connecticut. She guarded elite scorers like Caitlin Clark and Courtney Williams in the playoffs, which makes her the exact kind of hard-nosed guard head coach Natalie Nakase wants. 'I appreciate a coach who takes a lot of pride on the defensive end,' Burton said. 'It does suit me and my strengths. I want to get after it on both sides of the ball and up the ante on (offense), too, but I know what I can do' on defense. Burton is in camp with her third team. She was cut in June of her rookie season after Dallas took her with the seventh overall pick in 2022. She signed with Connecticut, where she found a role as the team's backup point guard, defensive leader and a competent offensive option. Also pushing for minutes is 21-year-old rookie Carla Leite. After Sunday's first day of training camp, Nakase said she was impressed with Leite's basketball IQ in her first WNBA practice. Vanloo has played against her in Europe the past few seasons and also expects the French guard to translate well to the WNBA. 'I've watched Carla Leite for a while now,' Vanloo said. 'I'm excited for her, she's showing she can play (in the WNBA). She can score, nothing she does is surprising me.' Burton and Leite bring contrasting styles. Burton is a physical defender who thrives on the counterattack. Leite is an emerging offensive talent who can shoot and get to the rim. Together, they should provide the Valkyries depth behind Vanloo. Depending on how Leite adjusts to WNBA-level defense, she could play her way into a bigger role after June's EuroBasket tournament, where she'll represent France. 'We intentionally picked these players because of the skill sets they already have,' Nakase said. 'Putting them together on offense and seeing who flourishes will be the development piece.' Rookie Shyanne Sellers can play small forward or shooting guard as well, giving her flexibility to get away from the glut of point guards, but Nakase said she's looking for versatility from all of them. 'We're looking for defense. You have to be able to defend,' Nakase said. Vanloo isn't a poor defender. Her 100.59 defensive rating last year was slightly below average. The Sun had a 94.13 defensive rating when Burton was on the floor last season, second best on a team that was one win from going to the WNBA Finals. It's possible Vanloo opens games as the steadying force and floor general, while Burton closes them with disruptive defense. One thing is clear: The Valkyries are relying heavily on their guards to set the tone. 'I know I was an old rookie,' Vanloo said. 'I felt like my experience really helped my team last year, and I think this year it's just going to be the same thing, just getting the experience from last year translated into this organization.'
