Given the history of expansion teams, most fans are willing to keep expectations for the Golden State Valkyries rather conservative for their first season. The Valkyries may not win a ton of games, but they will be a fun team to watch as the franchise aims to build its identity on the court. That has been enough to attract fans, even without a clear-cut star on the roster.
Nevertheless, coach Natalie Nakase has been adamant that no one should underestimate the Valkyries and that they will try their hardest to be as competitive as possible. That is a great philosophy for a team’s first season. After all, the Valkyries want to build a winning culture and show fans that they will always play hard, no matter the situation.
Wanting to be as competitive as possible could also quickly lead to a tempting mistake the Valkyries should avoid in their first season.
The Valkyries must allow young players to work through mistakes
Competitive teams often lean heavily on their veterans. The Valkyries have plenty of those. Tiffany Hayes, Temi Fagbenle, Monique Billings, Stephanie Talbot, Julie Vanloo, Cecilia Zandalasini, and Chloe Bibby, for example, have a lot of experience as professional basketball players—both in the WNBA and overseas.
However, the Valkyries also have a significant number of young players. Juste Jocyte, Carla Leite, Janelle Salaün, Kate Martin, Shyanne Sellers, and Kaitlyn Chen are all younger than 25. Jocyte, the Valkyries’ first-ever draft pick, is not even twenty yet.
Whichever young players end up making the roster need developmental minutes and opportunities to work through their mistakes. That is the only way they will be able to reach their full potential and become impactful WNBA players the Valkyries can lean on in the future. Particularly Jocyte, Leite, Martin, and Salaün could become key pieces of the Valkyries’ core if developed correctly.
So, the Valkyries will have to find a way to balance wanting to be as competitive as possible with giving their young players the room to grow and develop, even if their mistakes may cost them some games. No one enjoys losing, and it can be tempting to lean on veterans to avoid some of those losses. However, the Valkyries should be focused on building for the future. The key to that is developing young players.
The Valkyries already have an advantage in that area. Many of their young players already have experience playing professionally in Europe. So, they are not completely new to the pro game. Nevertheless, they will need time to adjust to their new environment and the WNBA competition. The Valkyries must give them that time.