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Ohemaa Nyanin walked into the Barclays Center for Game 2 of the WNBA Finals last month as she had done countless times before.
The emotions this time, though, were different.
For the five seasons prior to 2024, Nyanin had given her all to the Liberty.
She was general manager Jonathan Kolb’s first hire and started as a manager of basketball operations before working her way up to assistant GM.
She had watched the Liberty go from averaging fewer than 2,300 fans per game in 2019 at Westchester County Center to selling out Barclays Center.
This moment and “unreal” experience was what she had been working for.
Only now, Nyanin, hired in May to be the Golden State Valkyries’ first GM, was just another scout in the stands.
But a piece of her heart remained in Brooklyn for all of last season.
That’s why it was important for her to attend one of the Liberty’s Finals games — a win to tie the series at 1-1 made the trip back home even sweeter.
But for the final three games of the best-of-five series, Nyanin retreated to her San Francisco condo.
She watched Game 3 and 4 alone. When the Minnesota Lynx forced a winner-takes-all Game 5, Valkyries vice president of basketball operations Vanja Cernivec invited herself over to Nyanin’s place.
Still, Nyanin couldn’t hide her happiness for the Liberty, despite having traded in her seafoam threads for Valkyries violet.
She cheered and clapped with her purple hue manicure glistening in the light.
“I kept telling Vanja, ‘I’m so sorry you’re seeing me in my element,’ ” Nyanin recalled.
After Leonie Fiebich picked off a Lynx pass with the Liberty up by five with 10 seconds left in overtime, relief and joy started to settle in for Nyanin.
By the time the final horn rang, a bottle of champagne had been popped and two glasses poured.
“I vividly remember a physical weight being lifted off me,” Nyanin said. “It was the perfect way to cap my experience with the Liberty.”
Make no mistake about it, leaving the Liberty for a higher position at Golden State wasn’t easy for Nyanin.
“Making this decision, it was the hardest decision I’ve made ever,” she said. “Because I knew what we were going to be able to do [win a championship], and I also wanted this opportunity.”
At times throughout the interview process, she doubted that she would even be seriously considered.
When she finally got the offer, she questioned whether she could leave the players and staff whom she had built such tight, trusted relationships with.
She distinctly remembers the day she walked into Kolb’s office this spring and told him the news.
She closed the door, signaling to her then-boss that the conversation they were about to have was regarding a serious matter.
“I got the job,” she said, bracing for any potential negative reaction.
But Nyanin’s admission was met by an enthusiastic Kolb.
“I knew it! I knew it!” Kolb said. “Are you excited?”
Joyful tears formed in Nyanin’s eyes. Of course the opportunity to be a WNBA GM exhilarated her, but there was still a sliver of doubt whether leaving at that time, for this specific job, was the right move.
Kolb offered his full support.
“Of course I’m excited,” he told her. “This is what you wanted. You worked hard for this.”
The two franchises worked together to help make the transition more seamless.
Nyanin tied up a few loose ends with the Liberty so she could hit the ground running with the Valkyries May 13.
“I had to quickly switch my mind to, ‘But I can still set [the Liberty] up for success.’ And success only meant a championship,” Nyanin said. “And I felt like I did that.”
Months have passed since Nyanin packed up her Brooklyn condo and headed for the West Coast.
From afar, she watched the Liberty earn the top seed of the playoffs while she created a blueprint for Golden State’s success and helped prepare the franchise for its inaugural season in 2025.
“[The Liberty] winning was all the validation that I needed,” Nyanin said. “I didn’t need to be at the parade, I didn’t need to be kind of at any of those very public celebrations. I just needed to make sure that they got what they worked so hard for.
“[The] 2024 season was a tough season for me partly because I was starting a new season but I was very emotionally connected to the Liberty until Oct. 20. When that final buzzer went, I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, I’m now only Valkyrie Violet.’ ”
Nyanin met with Kolb after the Liberty won the franchise’s first title.
They hugged and talked through the journey it took to get there. Nyanin was there for most of it, but now she’s embarking on that process again with a new team — only this time she’ll bear the brunt of the responsibilities.
But after working with Kolb, she knows she’s ready.
“He’s a great person and a peer mentor,” Nyanin said, “and just to kind of see your people win is always a source of pride for me.”
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