The Golden State Valkyries have demonstrated the team's front office has no problem stacking the roster with hugely talented European champions, and that trend continued this week when the team signed 3x3 Olympic medalist Mamignan Touré.
Like a lot of her teammates, Touré has plenty of professional experience — which might give her an edge on some newer players in the WNBA. The 30-year-old signed to the pro club Léon Trégor Basket 29 in 2014, where she averaged 14.1 points and 4.3 rebounds her first season. Since then she has played throughout Europe on teams in France and Spain.
Touré also has an impressive resume as an Olympian and a world champion. In 2013 she helped the U19 French women win the silver medal at the World Championship, and the following year she and the women's U20 team won the gold against Spain. Touré was selected as part of the French 3x3 team ahead of the 2020 Olympic Games (the team ultimately finished fourth when the Games were held in Tokyo in 2021).
3x3 basketball is a major part of Mamignan Touré's game
In a 2021 interview with Basket Europe, Touré made it clear just how important 3x3 basketball is to her. She told the outlet the format is one she's played all her life, even before she was conscious of the fact that that's what she was doing.
She explained that 3x3 differs from standard 5x5 basketball because the style of play requires "everyone to be autonomous and committed" to what's happening on the court at all time. That's something many WNBA fans learned while watching the first season of Unrivaled earlier this year. Unlike 5x5 basketball, which can give a player the opportunity to "hide" in a corner for a few seconds on the court, and which also requires athletes to constantly know where a teammate is, 3x3 basketball can be more demanding.
The format of 3x3 basketball also gives some players the opportunity to get more minutes on the floor, as Valkyries fans saw with Kate Martin this year before she was injured.
"It's a discipline that offers total freedom of expression. You have 12 seconds to score, to be able to make a difference with your opponent, whether on offense or defense," Touré also said, "It's a practice that empowers you enormously."
How Mamignan Touré's experience in 3x3 basketball will help the Valkyries
That kind of discipline isn't always easy to come by, and the fact that Touré has so much experience in 3x3 basketball at the professional level will be of enormous benefit to the Valkyries this season. She already knows how to juggle multiple commitments and styles of play — seamlessly transitioning from 3x3 basketball to 5x5 throughout a season takes a level of grit and discipline that other players on the Valkyries will want to absorb and even emulate.
Though she's new to many Americans, Touré is not new to professional basketball, and in a lot of ways she's bringing a tremendous amount of veteran experience to the table. Now it's up to Golden State to show us just how they plan to use it.