5 things to watch before opener

OAKLAND — After an eventful offseason, the Golden State Valkyries finally got to take the court on Sunday at their practice facility in Oakland as the WNBA expansion team opened training camp.

While expectations won’t be high in Year 1, Golden State will use the next two-and-a-half weeks to build a hyper-competitive culture before hosting the Los Angeles Sparks at Chase Center on May 16 in its first-ever regular-season game. 

“Everybody has the mindset of win or die,” Valkyries coach Natalie Nakase said. “We want to approach every practice like it’s a battle. I thought every single player did that today.”

Golden State’s roster currently sits at 18 players and will need to be cut down to 12 before the season opener. 

While Sunday’s practice marked a historic day for the expansion team, the process will look a lot different than the 12 other teams in the league. 

“I think this is obviously a different experience than any other training camp,” second-year guard Kate Martin said. “Since it’s a brand new team, we’re all starting from ground zero. … We’re really building something from scratch, and so it’s a lot different, obviously, but it’s been really fun and it’s been really high energy so far.”

Here are five storylines going into training camp:

WHO’S IN CAMP?

The Valkyries have a mix of rookies, seasoned veterans and everything in between.

Carla Leite, Kaitlyn Chen, Shyanne Sellers and Martin headline a gritty group of young guards along with veterans Tiffany Hayes and Veronica Burton. Forwards Kayla Thornton and Monique Billings are slated to be veteran leaders who could be top scoring options.

Justė Jocytė, the Valkyries’ first-round draft choice, was not named to the team’s training camp roster, confirming that she will not be joining the team to start the season. Janelle Salaün and Elissa Cunane are expected to join the roster at a later date after they fulfill international commitments.

Iliana Rupert and María Conde, two players selected in December’s expansion draft, are not expected to join the team this season. Conde suffered an Achilles tear in January while Rupert has been playing professionally in Turkey.

WHAT ROLE WILL THE VETERANS PLAY?

While the Valkyries entered training camp with a plethora of young talent, the team will be looking toward its veterans to be anchors on both ends of the floor. 

Thornton and Hayes bring a combined 21 years of experience. Thornton won a WNBA title with the New York Liberty last season. Hayes won the sixth woman of the year award in 2024 after averaging 9.5 points per game for the Las Vegas Aces. 

Each player has different ways of being a leader on the floor. 

“I want to bring fun. I want to bring leadership. I want to be a leader, not just by example, but also with my voice,” Hayes said. 

Thornton, on the other hand, is taking a more measured approach.

“I don’t do a lot of talking. I kind of just lead by actions,” Thornton said. “What I do on the court and whatever help I can give to the young girls and stuff like that, I’ll lead that way.”

DEFENSE, DEFENSE, DEFENSE 

The Valkyries have made it clear that the team’s identity will start on defense and Golden State has the physical profile to do just that. 

Thornton and Billings provide length on the perimeter while Martin and Hayes are scrappy defenders. 

“We know what we want our identity to be and its killers,” Martin said. “We want to be gritty. We want to be relentless. We want to be the ones diving for those balls. We want to be getting stops on defense.”

According to Nakase, Sunday’s practice consisted of all defensive drills and that will likely continue that way as the week progresses. 

“Today was all about defense,” Nakase said. “It’s going to be defense until we feel that it’s an appropriate time to move up to offense.”

ICE BREAKERS

The first day of training camp could be a scary sight, especially for younger players. 

But the Valkyries made sure Sunday’s practice was a light one that included an early film session and a dance competition. 

“They made us do a little dance to get the jitters out because some people were saying they were nervous,” Hayes said. 

Sellers added, “Today was super exciting. It wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be. I was just trying to lean on my vets and soak it all in.”

Hayes said the Valkyries are still in the process of finding where they will have their off-court team activity, but there is one place that she has at the top of her list. 

“The first thing I want to do is take them to Alcatraz Island,” Hayes said. “We gotta do that one.”  

A BATTLE OF GUARDS

All eyes will be on the guard unit as the team will be looking for a solid rotation to complement Thornton and Billings. 

The team’s current group of guards have strengths as shooters and playmakers, but Nakase will be looking for more than a solid offensive game. 

“We’re looking for defense. You have to be able to defend,” Nakase said about what will separate which guards make the team. 

Originally Published: April 27, 2025 at 5:43 PM PDT