With the eighth pick of the WNBA Draft on Monday, the Golden State Valkyries took a big, fun swing by selecting LSU guard Flau'jae Johnson. Though she was inconsistent in her senior campaign at LSU, Johnson preceded that with three standout seasons for the Tigers, and she has the sort of game-breaking athleticism that could comfortably translate to the physical demands of the bigger, faster W. Preliminary reaction among Valkyries fans was enthusiastic though short-lived, because the team traded her to the Seattle Storm within an hour of making the pick.
The deal made by Valkyries general manager Ohemaa Nyanin is difficult to rationally explain. In exchange for Johnson, Golden State received the first pick of the 2026 second round, which they used on TCU's Marta Suarez, and the Storm's 2028 second-rounder. Whatever you think of Johnson and Suarez as prospects, the eighth pick is worth more than two second-rounders. Usually when teams make trades like this on draft night, it's the team moving up that overspends for the right to take a player it's fixated on, not the team moving down. This is also out of character for Nyanin, who impressed in her first season by building an expansion roster that made it to the playoffs. It would've been great to hear her explain the trade, but she declined to do so after the draft.
The first question of the presser was obviously about the trade, and this was Nyanin's answer in full:
Yeah, no, it's a good question. I think I'm going to take a beat to be able to eloquently give a response. First and foremost, it's been a really interesting and very exciting five days since we were able to talk to athletes in general, so a combination of being able to talk to free agents and then college-eligible athletes as well. We had a lot of connections in those meetings, one of them being Marta Suarez and Kokoro Tanaka, who we picked in the third round, and we've watched Ashlon Jackson from afar for a really long time. Coach Natalie Nakase was an assistant coach with the USA [Basketball] training camps over the past couple months prior to today, so there was an opportunity for us to see Ashlon at Duke on Duke's campus as well.
So I don't have a lot of detail to share. One, because I'm exhausted. Two, because I want to be very thoughtful when I'm talking about other humans and their basketball abilities, and how they would or would not show up for our squad. What I can say is, even through all of this exhaustion, I'm extremely excited about all of the athletes that we've signed or are about to sign.
Surely a lot of GMs were tired yesterday, and yet they were still willing to explain their decisions. Talking about a player's basketball abilities is part of the job, especially when your sizable, committed fanbase is grumpy after getting their excitement dashed. (Meanwhile, Storm fans were thrilled.) Nyanin had a couple hours to come up with some version of why she preferred Suarez over Johnson, yet all she could manage was an answer that in a way suggests Johnson wouldn't have shown up for the Valkyries.
Storm GM Talisa Rhea managed to provide a few words about her side of the trade. "The opportunity to add Flau'jae was really exciting and incredible for us," she said. "We didn't think that she would be available at that point. We had been in conversations, and so, as we got closer to that pick, once it became a reality, just really excited." Seattle is retooling after losing three starters in free agency, but will remain quite tall with the re-signing of Ezi Magbegor and third overall pick Awa Fam Thiam.
Later in the night, Nyanin provided additional comment to ESPN, saying the trade was planned beforehand:
"Seattle and I had an agreement to trade picks prior to any athlete selection," Nyanin told ESPN in a phone call after Monday night's draft. "I want to be super clear about the draft: This had nothing to do with Flau'jae or any specific athlete selection."
That still doesn't explain the return on the Valkyries' end. Perhaps they don't want to pay a first-rounder's salary, either this year or the next. After luring stellar defender Gabby Williams from the Storm, paying most of their core because they put together an all-time expansion season, and signing Kiah Stokes(???), the Valkyries have built most of a team, though they are not capped out. With the significantly larger salary cap under the new collective bargaining agreement, teams have the opportunity to radically reshape their rosters in free agency. Nyanin was asked about the cap implications after the draft, and said, "I don't talk or comment about salary cap." At least she's consistent.
The trade will be hard to judge in totality until we see what the Valkyries do with their cap space, but still: The eighth pick for two second-rounders is a straight-up bad deal. It is worrisome to make moves that remind me of the pro basketball team 90 miles to the north.
