{"id":134359,"date":"2024-12-07T13:47:45","date_gmt":"2024-12-07T06:47:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/?p=134359"},"modified":"2024-12-07T13:47:45","modified_gmt":"2024-12-07T06:47:45","slug":"golden-state-valkyries-build-roster-by-taking-11-players-in-expansion-draft-including-kate-martin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/?p=134359","title":{"rendered":"Golden State Valkyries build roster by taking 11 players in expansion draft, including Kate Martin"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"fluid\"\r\n     data-ad-layout-key=\"-fb+5w+4e-db+86\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"7910942971\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>SAN FRANCISCO (AP) \u2014 Once general manager Ohemaa Nyanin and her Golden State Valkyries staff had decided who to pick in the WNBA expansion draft, the first challenge became reaching each player with the news before she heard it anywhere else.<\/p>\n<p>That meant considering practice times, game schedules, time zones and potential sleep times. It all seemed worthwhile Friday night when the roster began taking shape. <\/p>\n<p>The way Nyanin looks at it, they are all part of history, about to join something being built from the ground up.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI just want these players to be happy,\u201d Nyanin said. \u201cI want them to understand the opportunity that they have to come and be historians. Once you get to put on that jersey and you get to sit in front of a packed Chase Center, your whole experience is going to change.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>The Valkyries selected center Iliana Rupert from Atlanta, guards Veronica Burton of Connecticut and Carla Leite of Dallas and forward Maria Conde from Chicago with their initial picks on Friday, the first players for the new Bay Area franchise that\u2019s set to begin play next season.<\/p>\n<p>Golden State rounded out its 11-woman roster with Indiana center Temi Fagbenle; Las Vegas guard Kate Martin; forwards Steph Talbot of Los Angeles, Cecilia Zandalasini of Minnesota, Kayla Thornton of New York and Monique Billings of Phoenix; and Washington guard Julie Vanloo. The Valkyries did not choose a player from Seattle.<\/p>\n<p>Thornton is riding high after helping the Liberty to a WNBA title. Martin, a second-round draft pick this year who played with Caitlin Clark at Iowa, could get more playing time and enjoy a big jump in productivity after she averaged 11.5 minutes and 2.6 points as a rookie with the Aces. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s a pretty cool opportunity. I feel really grateful to be a part of it. It\u2019s a part of history, a new WNBA team,\u201d Martin said. \u201cThey haven\u2019t had an expansion draft in a really long time. It\u2019s something super cool to be a part of, and I feel really grateful that they chose me. It\u2019s just going to be a lot of fun. Obviously they\u2019re going to be aggressive, and we\u2019re going to have more people added. That makes it really fun, seeing the roster come together and what it\u2019s going to be, how training camp is going to look.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Nyanin described the process of starting a new team as \u201ccomplex.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think these athletes are a really good step forward in our journey,\u201d said Nyanin, who also had conversations about trades. \u201cI was so excited about the blank canvas, and then behind closed doors it was blank. Nobody\u2019s name just appeared or anything so there was a lot of work that myself and my team put into it. The complexities around it is what I want to continue to highlight because these are 11 humans, right? They all thought one thing and they woke up today or are still sleeping and they\u2019re a part of the Golden State Valkyries.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The team plans to be active when free agency starts in February.<\/p>\n<p>Golden State did extensive scouting work and had discussions on each player to determine how she might fit in a new system.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s a long process but it\u2019s also a great process for us,\u201d coach Natalie Nakase said. \u201cWe kind of did this cycle, where we collaborate, we discuss and then we go watch film, then do it again &#8230; and that went over and over again for about two months. And finally we decided, we picked the best players that fit our culture. So we\u2019re excited and can\u2019t wait to get going.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This marked the WNBA\u2019s first expansion draft in 16 years since the Atlanta Dream joined the league in 2008.<\/p>\n<p>Golden State was free to acquire the contract or negotiating rights to one player from each of the other 12 WNBA teams. The Valkyries can also choose one player from the league who\u2019s eligible to become an unrestricted free agent.<\/p>\n<p>The Valkyries will play at Chase Center, the 5-year-old home of the Golden State Warriors, and practice across the bay in the organization\u2019s Oakland training facility.<\/p>\n<p>Warriors star Draymond Green sported a Valkyries jersey with No. 25 on the back \u2014 for the inaugural campaign of 2025 \u2014 while sitting out injured during Thursday\u2019s win over the Houston Rockets.<\/p>\n<p>There is already plenty of hype in San Francisco and beyond. <\/p>\n<p>And there was excitement on both sides during those initial calls to the players.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe got some really good reactions,\u201d Nyanin said. \u201cWe talked about it just internally the three of us, like, \u2018Should we have taped that, should we have kind of screen recorded or something?\u2019 I\u2019m very happy that we didn\u2019t. That\u2019s a moment that we will get to share just the four of us with each of the different athletes.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>___<\/h2>\n<p>AP WNBA: <span class=\"LinkEnhancement\"><a class=\"Link AnClick-LinkEnhancement\" data-gtm-enhancement-style=\"LinkEnhancementA\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/wnba-basketball\">https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/wnba-basketball<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><script>\n  window.fbAsyncInit = function() {\n      FB.init({\n              appId : '870613919693099',\n          xfbml : true,\n          version : 'v2.9'\n      });\n  };\n  (function(d, s, id){\n     var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];\n     if (d.getElementById(id)) {return;}\n     js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id;\n     js.src = \"https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/sdk.js\";\n     fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);\n   }(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk'));\n<\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"fluid\"\r\n     data-ad-layout-key=\"-fb+5w+4e-db+86\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"7910942971\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><div data-type=\"_mgwidget\" data-widget-id=\"1660802\">\r\n<\/div>\r\n<script>(function(w,q){w[q]=w[q]||[];w[q].push([\"_mgc.load\"])})(window,\"_mgq\");\r\n<\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/wnba-expansion-draft-valkyries-152186ffdf73d286ea603005174669de\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>SAN FRANCISCO (AP) \u2014 Once general manager Ohemaa Nyanin and her Golden State Valkyries staff had decided who to pick in the WNBA expansion draft, the first challenge became reaching &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/?p=134359\" class=\"more-link\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-134359","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134359","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=134359"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134359\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=134359"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=134359"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=134359"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}