Incoming Valkyries GM Ohemaa Nyanin has only positive things to say about working for the New York Liberty. She told the New York Post Wednesday that trading New York for the Bay Area was "the hardest decision I’ve made ever."
"Because I knew what we were going to be able to do [win a championship], and I also wanted this opportunity," Nyanin continued. She also admitted that she wasn't even sure the Valkyries would take her seriously as a candidate; once she received the job offer, Nyanin had to weigh whether or not leaving the Liberty and the team she had called home for five seasons was the right call.
Liberty GM Jonathan Kolb is a big part of the reason why making the decision was easier. "I knew it!" he said, before he asked if she was excited and offered Nyanin his total support.
Both teams worked together to make the move easy, and Nyanin began the process of transitioning to the new team. "I had to quickly switch my mind to, ‘But I can still set [the Liberty] up for success.’ And success only meant a championship. And I felt like I did that," she told the outlet.
So instead of joining the Liberty courtside as they fought their way through a lengthy season and an Olympic Games, Nyanin watched the team from across the United States. She went back to Brooklyn to see the Finals in person, ping-ponging between the city she once called home and Minneapolis until Game 5 returned the series to New York.
"[The Liberty] winning was all the validation that I needed," she said. "I didn’t need to be at the parade, I didn’t need to be kind of at any of those very public celebrations. I just needed to make sure that they got what they worked so hard for. [The] 2024 season was a tough season for me partly because I was starting a new season but I was very emotionally connected to the Liberty until Oct. 20. When that final buzzer went, I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, I’m now only Valkyrie Violet.'"
Nyanin previously worked for five years as the assistant director of the women's basketball program at USA Basketball. Her time with the organization included the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio and the 2018 FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup in Spain.
She also played basketball at American University in Washington, D.C., where she graduated with a degree in International Studies and Foreign Language & Communication Media. As a hooper, she played 58 games for the school and started 31 of 32 games in her senior year.