The Aces already have a plethora of pre-existing question marks on their dossier, and now the team is entering another potentially pivotal offseason event: the Golden State Valkyries expansion draft.
The new WNBA team set to play next season will start assembling its roster by selecting a maximum of one player from each of the existing 12 clubs.
Results will be announced at 3:30 p.m. Friday on ESPN, and Aces coach Becky Hammon said Tuesday she doesn’t exactly know what to expect.
The Aces still don’t have a general manager, and Hammon is more focused on her assistant coach vacancy.
“Right now, it’s a little bit of all hands on deck,” she said. “I don’t know if they plan on filling out that space or not. I want to be about the basketball. I’m a basketball coach. I don’t necessarily think I’m qualified to be a general manager.”
All 12 WNBA front offices had to submit their list of six “protected players” to the Valkyries by Nov. 25, and Hammon had a role in that.
“We’re just kind of guessing at this point who they might want to take,” Hammon said. “We don’t have a lot of control.”
No help from Nakase?
While the Aces’ six “protected players” will not be available for selection in the expansion draft, all other players are free to be selected.
This means Golden State would acquire whatever rights the Aces had for a given player, which could include future negotiation privileges.
Hammon is glad the lists have stayed private, as she feels the choices could “bend some relationships in the wrong direction” and affect team dynamics.
“We can’t keep everybody,” she said.
It seems obvious the Aces’ core of A’ja Wilson, Chelsea Gray, Jackie Young and Kelsey Plum would be the first four protected players, but there’s a lot that could have impacted how the last two spots were approached.
The Valkyries aren’t required to select a player from every team. They could pass, and they also have the option to make trades. They can make deals to acquire players or capital for agreeing not to select a certain player. Or they could strike a trade to pick someone specific and deal them to another team.
Those scenarios would have needed to unfold by an undisclosed time Thursday, according to the Valkyries. The Aces would presumably have a negotiating edge with Valkyries coach Natalie Nakase because she just left her role as first assistant in Las Vegas to lead the expansion team. But conversations apparently hadn’t taken place as of Tuesday.
“I haven’t talked to Natalie about the expansion draft,” Hammon said. “I don’t know where her thoughts are with that.”
Plum, reserves likely safe
Plum, a three-time WNBA All-Star, could negotiate with any team come January as an unrestricted free agent. The Valkyries can only select one UFA on Friday, and Plum is likely an attractive prospect. The 30-year old is a Poway, California, native, and she’s familiar with Nakase.
But regardless of whether Plum wants to play in Las Vegas for another season, it’s unlikely the Aces just let her go in the expansion draft or free agency.
After protecting her from the draft, they can hit her with the core designation, which is like the NFL’s franchise tag. It will prevent her from negotiating with anyone else and guarantee her at least a one-year supermax contract with the Aces. (Note: Most players are waiting for an updated collective bargaining agreement to extend commitments past 2025.) Plum could demand a trade at that point, but at least the Aces would get something in return.
“We love Kelsey Plum. There’s no doubt about that,” Hammon said. “(We’re) just giving her space, and she’s evaluating where she is in her career. We’re going to get to a position where, hopefully, everybody’s happy, but we certainly value Kelsey. I don’t think we win two championships without her. So she’s definitely an integral part of our organization.”
Similarly, circumstances seem to be in the Aces’ favor to keep veterans Sydney Colson, Alysha Clark and Tiffany Hayes. They’re all at least 35 years old. Clark is the second-oldest player in the league, and Hayes came out of retirement to join the Aces in May.
“They’re all huge pieces,” Hammon said. “But I think if you’re looking to do an expansion team, you’re probably not drafting a player that could retire that year. I would guess that’s not the framework they’re building out of. To answer to upper brass about why you picked a 35-, 36- or 37-year-old might be difficult for a young coach.”
Kitley, Martin
If an expansion team is best rostered with young talent, then the Aces’ final two “protected player” spots could have gone to Elizabeth Kitley and Kate Martin.
Kitley, a center from Virginia Tech whom the Aces selected with the 24th pick of the 2024 draft, has recovered from a torn left ACL that she suffered during her final college season with the help of the Aces.
The three-time ACC player of the year is on a suspended contract, which prevents her from getting paid by the team but has allowed her to utilize their facilities.
“We really value her,” Hammon said. “If she’s healthy, she’s probably a top-five pick. I don’t want that high of a pick, because that means we didn’t do very well the year before.”
Nakase was a proponent of the Aces selecting Martin out of Iowa with the No. 18 pick in the 2024 draft. The guard was used in crucial moments off the bench early in the season for the Aces. But she saw limited playing time in the second half of the season after entering the Olympic break with an Achilles injury.
“Kate’s a professional,” Hammon said. “That’s one of the reasons that we picked her. We felt like she’s a pro right now. So I feel like she’s going to be doing pro type things in her offseason in order to get better.”
Hammon said Kitley is a “little ways off” from being medically cleared, but she expects her to be playing with no restrictions by July at the latest. This opens the possibility that Kitley and Martin could be Aces when training camp starts in April.
That would likely require protecting them both and leaving someone available like 30-year-old Kiah Stokes, who has been in the WNBA since 2015. It’s unclear if Hammon would be willing to let the 6-foot-3-inch center go after coaching her for three of those seasons.
Contact Callie Fin at cfin@reviewjournal.com. Follow @CallieJLaw on X.
Review-Journal’s expansion draft projections
Protected
Chelsea Gray
Elizabeth Kitley (unsigned draft pick)
Kate Martin
Kelsey Plum (unrestricted free agent)
A’ja Wilson
Jackie Young
Unprotected
Kierstan Bell
Alysha Clark (UFA)
Sydney Colson (UFA)
Queen Egbo
Megan Gustafson
Tiffany Hayes (UFA)
Kiah Stokes
