2025 Golden State Valkyries season

2025 Golden State Valkyries season
2025 Golden State Valkyries season
Head coach	Natalie Nakase
Arena	Chase Center
Results
Record	23–21 (.523)
Place	4th (Western)
Playoff finish	8th seed; Lost in First Round 0–2 to Minnesota Lynx
	2026 →

The 2025 Golden State Valkyries season was the franchise's 1st season in the Women's National Basketball Association and under head coach, Natalie Nakase.

Head coachNatalie Nakase

ArenaChase Center

Record23–21 (.523)

Place4th (Western)

Quick facts Golden State Valkyries season, Head coach ...

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Round	Pick	Player	Position	Nationality	College/Club	Outcome	Ref.
1	5	Justė Jocytė	G/F	Lithuania	ASVEL Féminin	Rights retained
2	17	Shyanne Sellers	G	United States	Maryland	Signed rookie contract on April 22 Waived on May 3	^[1]^[2]
3	30	Kaitlyn Chen	G	United States / Taiwan	UConn	Signed rookie contract on April 22 Waived on May 14	^[3]

Date	Details	Ref.
October 10, 2024	Hired Natalie Nakase as head coach	^[4]
February 10, 2025	Hired Lorena Torres Ronda as director of performance	^[5]
March 27, 2025	Hired Kasib Powell, Sugar Rodgers, and Landon Tatum as assistant coaches	^[6]
	Hired Sidney Parsons as director of player development
	Hired Sidney Dobner as head video coordinator/coach development
	Hired Daisy Feder as assistant video coordinator
April 25, 2025	Hired Joscelyn Bourne as head of physical therapy	^[7]
	Hired Katelin Knox as head athletic trainer
	Hired Allison DeKuiper as assistant athletic trainer and performance coordinator
	Hired Papis Sambe as performance coach
September 15, 2025	Vanja Černivec, Vice President of Basketball Operations, left Valkyries organization	^[8]

Player	Former Team	Contract Status (at time of draft)	Ref.
Iliana Rupert	Atlanta Dream	Suspended – contract expired	^[10]
María Conde	Chicago Sky	Suspended – contract expired
Veronica Burton	Connecticut Sun	Free agent – reserved
Carla Leite	Dallas Wings	Unsigned 2024 draft pick (No. 9)
Temi Fágbénlé	Indiana Fever	Free agent – restricted
Kate Martin	Las Vegas Aces	Under contract for 2025 season
Stephanie Talbot	Los Angeles Sparks	Under contract for 2025 season
Cecilia Zandalasini	Minnesota Lynx	Free agent – reserved
Kayla Thornton	New York Liberty	Under contract for 2025 season
Monique Billings	Phoenix Mercury	Free agent – unrestricted
No selection	Seattle Storm	N/a
Julie Vanloo	Washington Mystics	Free agent – reserved

Player	Date	Notes	Ref.
Temi Fágbénlé	June 25	Set as active	^[11]
Janelle Salaün	June 30		^[12]
Cecilia Zandalasini	June 30		^[12]
Iliana Rupert	July 16		^[13]

Player	Date	Notes	Former Team	Ref.
Monique Billings	February 3	One-year deal	Phoenix Mercury (2024 WNBA expansion draft)	^[14]
Veronica Burton		Training camp contract	Connecticut Sun (2024 WNBA expansion draft)	^[15]
Julie Vanloo			Washington Mystics (2024 WNBA expansion draft)	^[16]
Chloe Bibby	February 5		Spar Girona (LF)	^[17]
Janelle Salaün			Famila Schio (Lega Basket Femminile)	^[18]
Kyara Linskens			Free agent	^[19]
Elissa Cunane	February 6	Training camp contract	BK Žabiny Brno (ZBL)	^[20]
Tiffany Hayes		One-year deal	Las Vegas Aces	^[21]
Laeticia Amihere		Awarded off waivers	Atlanta Dream	^[22]
Laeticia Amihere	June 8	Rest of season contract	Golden State Valkyries	^[23]
Carla Leite	February 21	Rookie contract	Dallas Wings (2024 WNBA expansion draft – rights to 2024 draft pick No. 9)	^[24]
Cecilia Zandalasini	March 7	One-year deal	Minnesota Lynx (2024 WNBA expansion draft)	^[25]^[26]
Temi Fágbénlé	April 1	One-year deal	Indiana Fever (2024 WNBA expansion draft)	^[25]^[27]
Mamignan Touré	April 21	Training camp contract	Spar Girona (LF)	^[28]
Kaitlyn Chen	April 22	Rookie contract (2025 draft pick No. 30)	UConn
Shyanne Sellers	April 22	Rookie contract (2025 draft pick No. 17)	Maryland
Aerial Powers	June 10	Rest of season contract	Atlanta Dream	^[29]
Chloe Bibby	June 15		Golden State Valkyries	^[30]
Kaitlyn Chen	June 15		Golden State Valkyries	^[30]
Bree Hall	June 18		Indiana Fever	^[31]
Bree Hall	August 27	7-day hardship contract	Golden State Valkyries	^[32]
Kaila Charles	August 1		Dallas Wings	^[33]
	August 8		Golden State Valkyries	^[34]
	August 15		Golden State Valkyries	^[35]
Elizabeth Kitley	September 3		Las Vegas Aces	^[36]

2025 Golden State Valkyries season

Draft

Transactions

Front office and coaching

Expansion draft

Free agency

Re-signed / extensions

Additions

Subtractions / unsigned

Roster

Depth chart

Schedule

Preseason

Regular season

Playoffs

Standings

Playoffs

Statistics

Regular season

Playoffs

Awards and honors

References

External links

Related Articles

Timelines

Top Qs

Fact Checks

Player	Date	Reason	New Team	Ref.
María Conde	December 6	Suspended – contract expired	N/A – retained rights
Iliana Rupert	December 6	Suspended – contract expired
Justė Jocytė	April 14	Unsigned draft pick (2025 draft pick – No. 5)
Shyanne Sellers	May 3	Waived	Atlanta Dream	^[1]^[2]
Laeticia Amihere	May 14		—	^[3]
Kaitlyn Chen			—
Elissa Cunane			—
Mamignan Touré			Connecticut Sun
Chloe Bibby			—
Chloe Bibby	June 30		Indiana Fever	^[37]
Kyara Linskens	June 8		—	^[38]
Cecilia Zandalasini	June 8	Suspended contract – temporary	N/A – retained rights	^[39]
Julie Vanloo	June 10	Suspended contract – temporary	N/A – retained rights	^[40]
Julie Vanloo	June 30	Waived	Los Angeles Sparks	^[41]
Janelle Salaün	June 11	Suspended contract – temporary	N/A – retained rights	^[42]
Temi Fágbénlé	June 15	Suspended contract – temporary	N/A – retained rights	^[43]
Aerial Powers	June 25	Waived	Indiana Fever	^[11]
Bree Hall	June 30		—	^[37]
Bree Hall	September 1		Indiana Fever	^[44]
Stephanie Talbot	July 13		New York Liberty	^[45]
Elizabeth Kitley	September 9		—	^[46]

Pos.	Starter	Bench
PG	Veronica Burton	Kaitlyn Chen Tiffany Hayes
SG	Cecilia Zandalasini	Carla Leite Kate Martin
SF	Janelle Salaün	Laeticia Amihere
PF	Kayla Thornton	Monique Billings
C	Temi Fágbénlé	Iliana Rupert

#	Team	W	L	PCT	GB	Conf.	Home	Road	Cup
1	yx – Minnesota Lynx	34	10	.773	–	20–4	20–2	14–8	5–1
2	x – Las Vegas Aces	30	14	.682	4	16–8	17–5	13–9	2–4
3	x – Atlanta Dream	30	14	.682	4	15–6	16–6	14–8	3–2
4	x – Phoenix Mercury	27	17	.614	7	13–11	15–7	12–10	4–2
5	x – New York Liberty	27	17	.614	7	15–5	17–5	10–12	4–1
6	cx – Indiana Fever	24	20	.545	10	13–8	13–9	11–11	4–1
7	x – Seattle Storm	23	21	.523	11	12–12	10–12	13–9	4–2
8	x – Golden State Valkyries	23	21	.523	11	9–15	14–8	9–13	3–3
9	e – Los Angeles Sparks	21	23	.477	13	10–14	9–13	12–10	2–4
10	e – Washington Mystics	16	28	.364	18	8–12	10–12	6–16	2–3
11	e – Connecticut Sun	11	33	.250	23	7–14	7–15	4–18	1–4
12	e – Chicago Sky	10	34	.227	24	4–17	6–16	4–18	1–4
13	e – Dallas Wings	10	34	.227	24	4–20	6–16	4–18	1–5

First Round: Best-of-3			Semifinals: Best-of-5			Finals: Best-of-7

1	*Minnesota Lynx*	2

8	Golden State Valkyries	0
			1	Minnesota Lynx	1

			4	Phoenix Mercury	3
4	*Phoenix Mercury*	2

5	New York Liberty	1
						4	Phoenix Mercury	0

						2	*Las Vegas Aces*	4
2	*Las Vegas Aces*	2

7	Seattle Storm	1
			2	*Las Vegas Aces*	3

			6	Indiana Fever	2
3	Atlanta Dream	1

6	Indiana Fever	2

Legend
GP	Games played	GS	Games started	MPG	Minutes per game	RPG	Rebounds per game
APG	Assists per game	SPG	Steals per game	BPG	Blocks per game	PPG	Points per game
FG%	Field-goal percentage	3P%	3-point field-goal percentage	FT%	Free-throw percentage	TO	Turnovers per game
PF	Fouls per game		Team leader		League leader

Player	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	TO	PPG
Kayla Thornton	22	22	30.1	36.2%	28.2%	82.9%	7.0	1.5	1.3	0.2	1.6	14.0
Veronica Burton	44	44	29.4	38.7%	34.5%	87.8%	4.4	6.0	1.1	0.6	2.1	11.9
Janelle Salaün	36	33	27.0	40.6%	36.6%	80.6%	5.1	1.2	0.6	0.1	1.5	11.3
Tiffany Hayes	26	24	26.9	41.8%	40.6%	80.0%	3.8	3.0	0.5	0.2	1.9	11.7
Cecilia Zandalasini	19	10	23.7	44.7%	40.7%	87.5%	2.9	1.7	0.9	0.2	1.3	10.5
Temi Fagbenle	39	38	23.7	50.2%	19.4%	72.2%	4.9	1.6	0.9	0.6	1.5	7.4
Iliana Rupert	21	11	23.1	43.8%	44.2%	93.8%	3.9	1.6	0.6	0.6	1.0	9.3
Julie Vanloo	9	2	20.0	29.2%	21.1%	83.3%	1.9	4.1	0.7	—	2.6	4.6
Kaila Charles	18	8	19.3	46.3%	53.0%	81.8%	4.5	0.9	1.1	0.2	1.2	7.4
Monique Billings	26	8	18.2	47.7%	27.8%	67.9%	4.5	0.5	0.6	0.8	0.8	7.3
Carla Leite	37	6	17.2	38.7%	17.3%	83.8%	1.3	2.0	0.7	0.1	1.5	7.2
Stephanie Talbot	16	10	16.8	33.9%	25.0%	64.3%	3.3	2.0	0.6	0.1	1.2	3.6
Kate Martin	42	4	16.4	32.3%	31.0%	78.0%	2.7	1.0	0.4	0.1	0.8	6.2
Laeticia Amihere	29	0	13.3	45.6%	14.3%	77.8%	4.3	0.9	0.6	0.4	1.1	5.4
Chloe Bibby	5	0	13.2	40.7%	42.1%	100.0%	2.8	0.6	0.6	—	—	6.4
Kaitlyn Chen	24	0	10.3	38.0%	33.3%	71.4%	0.9	1.0	0.2	—	0.8	2.0
Kyara Linskens	4	0	6.8	40.0%	0.0%	—	1.5	0.3	0.3	0.8	0.5	1.0
Bree Hall	3	0	4.0	33.3%	0.0%	33.3%	0.7	—	—	—	1.0	1.0
Aerial Powers	2	0	3.5	0.0%	—	100.0%	1.0	0.5	0.5	—	—	1.0

Player	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	TO	PPG
Veronica Burton	2	2	35.0	28.0%	40.0%	100.0%	5.5	8.0	3.5	1.0	5.0	13.5
Janelle Salaün	2	2	34.5	50.0%	45.5%	80.0%	5.0	0.5	0.5	—	1.0	13.5
Cecilia Zandalasini	2	2	31.0	34.6%	33.3%	87.5%	4.5	2.5	1.0	—	2.5	14.0
Iliana Rupert	2	1	24.0	42.9%	33.3%	—	2.5	3.0	—	1.0	2.5	4.0
Kaila Charles	2	2	22.5	25.0%	50.0%	—	2.5	2.0	1.5	0.5	0.5	3.5
Temi Fagbenle	1	1	20.0	62.5%	0.0%	50.0%	3.0	3.0	—	—	1.0	12.0
Kate Martin	2	0	16.0	40.0%	37.5%	71.4%	1.5	1.0	—	0.5	0.5	8.0
Monique Billings	2	0	14.5	58.3%	—	100.0%	2.0	—	0.5	0.5	—	7.5
Carla Leite	2	0	8.0	0.0%	0.0%	100.0%	1.0	0.5	—	—	1.5	2.0
Laeticia Amihere	1	0	4.0	—	—	—	1.0	—	—	—	—	—
Kaitlyn Chen	1	0	4.0	100.%	—	—	1.0	1.0	—	—	—	2.0

Recipient	Award	Date awarded	Ref.
Veronica Burton	AP Most Improved Player	September 12	^[47]
	WNBA Most Improved Player	September 15	^[48]
	WNBA All-Defensive Second Team	October 8	^[49]
Natalie Nakase	Coach of the Month – June	July 3	^[50]
	AP Coach of the Year	September 12	^[47]
	WNBA Coach of the Year	September 17	^[51]
Janelle Salaün	AP All-Rookie Team	September 12	^[47]
Janelle Salaün	WNBA All-Rookie Team	September 29	^[52]
Kayla Thornton	Western Conference Player of the Week	June 17	^[53]
Kayla Thornton	WNBA All-Star Reserve	July 7	^[54]

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