Here come the Valkyries!
The WNBA’s 13th franchise, the Golden State Valkyries, will begin building their team on Friday, Dec. 6, when the league holds the Golden State Expansion Draft. The event will be broadcast on ESPN.
The Expansion Draft for Golden State is set for December 6, 2024. Time to be announced. Swipe for the Expansion Draft process ➡️
We can’t wait to gather with our #Valkyries community and will share watch party details as we get closer to the event date. Stay tuned! pic.twitter.com/cvYKprucTa
— Golden State Valkyries (@wnbagoldenstate) September 30, 2024
Through the draft, Golden State will have the ability to acquire one player from all other 12 teams. After the conclusion of the 2024 season and ahead of the draft, the league’s current teams will designate six “Protected Players” who will not be eligible to be drafted by Golden State. All other players on teams’ complete Roster Lists—which will be submitted to the league approximately 10 days prior to the Expansion Draft and include every player to whom the team has rights (active, suspended, reserved, core and retired)—will be available for Golden State to select.
The Valkyries can draft players who do not have a contract for the 2025 season; those players’ rights will be transferred to Golden State. However, Golden State will be permitted to draft only one player who is set to become an unrestricted free agent ahead of the 2025 season. The Valkyries, like all other teams, will be able to negotiate with all other unrestricted free agents when the free agency period begins in February.
Golden State also is allowed to make trades before the Expansion Draft, albeit not before the other teams’ Roster Lists are submitted. In addition to agreeing with another organization to select (or not select) a particular player from that team, Golden State also can agree to select a certain player from the list of available Expansion Draft players and then trade that player to another team.
