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Golden State Valkyries Make Roster Decision on WNBA Champion originally appeared on Athlon Sports.
The Golden State Valkyries snapped a four-game skid with a dominant 95-68 win over the Las Vegas Aces on Saturday, bolstered by Kayla Thornton’s double-double of 22 points and 11 rebounds, Cecilia Zandalasini’s 18 points and Veronica Burton’s 12 assists.
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That victory improved the Valkyries to a 3-5 record in their inaugural 2025 campaign.
On Sunday, the Valkyries announced the temporary suspension of forward Zandalasini’s contract to allow her to represent Italy at FIBA EuroBasket 2025, which runs from June 18-29 across venues in the Czech Republic, Germany, Italy and Greece.
The competition will determine continental supremacy and serve as a qualifier for the 2026 FIBA Women’s World Cup, with Italy’s squad relying heavily on Zandalasini’s WNBA experience.
Zandalasini enters her first season with Golden State after being selected from the Minnesota Lynx roster in the December 2024 expansion draft.
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In her four appearances (two starts) this year, she’s averaged 10.0 points, 2.3 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 1.5 steals in 23.0 minutes per game.
A decorated international talent, Zandalasini was a WNBA champion with the Minnesota Lynx in 2017, WNBA Commissioner’s Cup champion (2024) and MVP of the 2016 FIBA Europe Under-20 Championship.
She has also won multiple Turkish league and cup titles with Fenerbahçe (2019, 2020, 2021) and an Italian Supercup crown (2023).
Golden State Valkyries guard Tiffany Hayes (15) speaks to teammates.Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images
Zandalasini’s departure will leave a 10-point-per-game scoring void at the small-forward spot and test Golden State’s young depth.
Management has signaled that Zandalasini will rejoin the roster immediately after Italy’s EuroBasket run, but with eight games between now and the end of the month, she leaves a significant hole to fill.
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This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jun 8, 2025, where it first appeared.
