The Valkyries' front office "did a killer job" during this year's WNBA Expansion Draft, Sue Bird told Megan Rapinoe on the Dec. 11th episode of the pair's podcast, A Touch More.
Rapinoe immediately agreed. "Well, that's honestly something that is not talked about a lot as the talent in the front office," she replied. "So it seems like they did a very good job putting together the team in a way that is showing their sort of experience in the front office."
The Valkyries, Bird explained, wanted to get players that were "battle-tested," as Coach Nakase put it ahead of the draft. "So they did that. I think last but not least, forget every player they picked — we could go down the list even more. What they did and why this is such a success is they got talent. They got players that have been on championship teams, whether that's in the NBA or overseas."
How overseas talent could shape the first season of the Valkyries
While the current roster is hardly set in stone (the team could opt to keep a few drafted players overseas for further development and bring in a few new players through free agency ahead of the 2025 draft), it's of note that the Valkyries drafted several overseas players earlier this month.
Carla Leite was drafted by the Dallas Wings in 2024 before she was selected by the Valkyries in the Expansion Draft, but so far has yet to step foot on a WNBA court. The French guard isn't very well-known in the United States, but being added to the Valkyries could change that.
Leite was on the 18-player list for the French national team ahead of the 2024 Olympic Games, but didn't make the 12-player roster that ultimately won a silver medal in the women's final. But that hasn't slowed her down: in four Euroleague games, Leite is averaging 14.5 points, 1.5 rebounds, and 3.8 assists.
Forward Maria Conde is another great example of a player who has been waiting overseas for her WNBA moment. Though she was drafted by the Sky in 2019, Conde still hasn't played for the league. Ideally, the Valkyries' inaugural year could change that for Conde, who is averaging 14.1 points, 5.0 rebounds, and 6.9 assists in the Euroleague this year.
A "different" WNBA is changing things for everyone
Bird also pointed out that "it's just a different WNBA" now. "Free agency is different, the salaries and the salary cap is different. There's just a lot more movement to be had. So what we're seeing is not the final Valkyrie team," she explained.
If there's one thing to learn from the last Expansion Draft in 2008, it's that a new team brings a lot of surprises to the WNBA. "So it's gonna be a lot of players who maybe weren't starters on their previous team and now are gonna be asked to start. It's gonna be a lot of players who maybe, I'm making this up, average six shots," Bird said.
"And now they're gonna be asked to average 15 shots. Sometimes what happens though is players, when given a bigger role, given more minutes, given more opportunity, given a longer leash, they end up surprising you."