The Golden State Valkyries have had a tremendous first season. They’re in the playoff mix with a 9-7 record, they’re valued at a record $500 million, and they’re selling out Chase Center every night.
They’re also demonstrating that roster expansion is desperately needed in the WNBA.
On Monday, the Valkyries announced they had waived guard Julie Vanloo, who has been overseas for EuroBasket for the past few weeks. The Valkyries acquired Vanloo in December’s expansion draft, and the Belgian guard averaged 20 minutes per game with the Valkyries in 9 appearances this season.
Shortly after, Vanloo posted on Instagram that she had just landed back in San Francisco: “I need some time to process this and put my feels into words. I can’t right now.”
In addition to waiving Vanloo, the Valkyries waived Chloe Bibby and Bree Hall, as Cecilia Zandalasini and Janelle Salaun both return from EuroBasket. For now, former UConn guard Kaitlyn Chen remains on the roster.
Vanloo had a tough start to the year offensively, averaging 4.6 points on 29.2% shooting, including 21.1% from three. But the 32-year-old was a critical part of the Belgium team that just won gold, averaging 9.8 points and 5.3 assists.
Bibby, an Australian forward, was also a solid contributor in the five games she spent with the Valkyries during EuroBasket, averaging 6.4 points and shooting 42.1% from three. Hall, a rookie out of South Carolina, played just 8 minutes for the Valkyries across two games.
Chen remains on the roster, though further cuts could come. Chen averaged 19.3 minutes across four games, shooting 50% from three.
The last few weeks have demonstrated the value of expanding rosters past 12 players. Valkyries have been shuffling players in and out of the roster since the beginning of EuroBasket, with key players like Zandalasini and Salaun temporarily going overseas. Vanloo returning to Golden State and immediately being waived further reinforces just how limited 12 roster spots as is the fact that several players — like Chen — demonstrated they deserved WNBA roster spots while EuroBasket was taking place.
