The Golden State Valkyries made a surprise third-round pick in Monday night's WNBA Draft when the team selected Kaitlyn Chen as the No. 30 overall pick, a moment that called to mind the moment the Las Vegas Aces drafted Kate Martin — now Chen's teammate in the Bay Area — in the second round of the 2024 WNBA Draft.
Chen made it clear she could make big shots in big moments and hold her own with major players in the NCAA game. She proved time and time again she can rise to the moment when needed and that she was a deeply reliable athlete for the UConn Huskies.
Despite that, Chen entered the draft as one of the more underrated picks of the night and wasn't on any mock drafts. Coaches and scouts took note of her basketball IQ and personal and professional maturity all season, and the Valkyries clearly tucked Chen away in their collective back pocket.
Kaitlyn Chen can run the floor with the best of them
Chen is a floor general in absolutely every applicable way the phrase can be used in terms of a basketball game. She reads the court effortlessly and rarely makes a bad shot, doesn't appear to get easily caught up in high-pressure games, and is a staunch team player who can always set up a teammate for a great shot.
Chen has also demonstrated the ability to pivot, as she left the Ivy system for UConn ahead of the 2024-25 season and didn't seem to struggle in the slightest. She averaged 6.9 points, 3.4 assists and 1.8 rebounds for the Huskies this year and was a major part of the reason why the Huskies won the Championship this year.
Chen's undergraduate basketball accolades are also numerous. She was named 2023 Ivy League Player of the Year, two-time First Team All-Ivy (2023, 2024), three-time Ivy League Tournament Most Outstanding Player (2022-24), and three-time Ivy League All-Tournament Team (2022-24).
Geno Auriemma always believed Kaitlyn Chen would get drafted
While plenty of people were surprised by the Valkyries' decision to draft Chen, there's one person who has always said she belongs in the league: UConn's head coach Geno Auriemma. "Kaitlyn Chen is the kind of player that every really really good team has," he told reporters when she transferred to UConn last year. "When you come from a program like Princeton... where they depended on her a lot, you might have come out of Princeton and go some place where you have the exact same role. And when she came here, she knew it was going to be a little bit different. But it's exactly the role that we need."
"It gives us a chance to play a certain way that we wouldn't be able to play if she wasn't here," Auriemma continued. "And I think she has raised her stock, in WNBA Draft stock. Because a lot of the GMs and a lot of the head coaches that have come to practice, she has become a better than average three-point shooter, she's a tremendous free throw shooter."
Auriemma's final thoughts at that particular press conference? Chen was "going to make it in the league." And now, with this third round selection by the Valkyries, Chen has got her shot.