Valkyries Coach Facing Kate Martin Decision After Latest Injury News

Selected in the WNBA Expansion Draft by the Golden State Valkyries, former Iowa Hawkeyes guard Kate Martin received a fresh start to her professional career. Receiving limited playing time in her rookie season with the Las Vegas Aces, Martin appeared in 34 games but averaged just 11.5 minutes per contest.

Seeing increased opportunities this season, Martin is averaging 16.3 minutes — but that has been trending downward. In her last four appearances, Martin is averaging just under 12 minutes per game. This also doesn’t include a healthy DNP against the Dallas Wings last week.

Despite making her only 3-point attempt against the Atlanta Dream on Tuesday, Martin received just six minutes of playing time.

Speaking with reporters after Martin’s DNP against Dallas last week, Valkyries head coach Natalie Nakase cited Golden State’s condensed schedule and the need to manage minutes accordingly.

“We have six games in 10 days. Before the break we had six games in 12 days,” she said (via Kenzo Fukuda of ClutchPoints). “So I’m just kind of being mindful and so we’ll see moving forward because that is not a lot of downtime.”

As the Valkyries prepare for the front half of a back-to-back on Thursday night against the Washington Mystics, both the schedule and injury report could pave the way for Martin to reenter the mix.

In addition to the expected absence of All-Star forward Kayla Thornton, who underwent season-ending knee surgery, the Valkyries announced that Monique Billings has been ruled out due to an ankle injury. 

Those two are joined on the injury report by Tuesday night’s hero Cecilia Zandalasini, who is questionable with a left foot injury after nailing the game-winning shot against Atlanta.

Nakase now faces a decision on how to manage the rotation with two key players down in Thornton and Billings — and potentially another in Zandalasini. Could Martin be the answer?

While she is not a frontcourt plater like Thornton and Billings, Martin does have two starts this season in what would generally be considered three-guard lineups. On July 9 against the Indiana Fever, she started alongside Tiffany Hayes and Veronica Burton. Nakase used that same three-guard group against the Los Angeles Sparks on May 16.

Even if Martin doesn’t get the starting nod against Washington on Thursday, there is seemingly a pathway to more minutes given Golden State’s injury situation. In 23 games this season, the second-year guard is averaging 6.7 points and 2.3 rebounds.