The Golden State Valkyries waived Kyara Linskens on Sunday, June 8, a day after the team's huge win over the Las Vegas Aces. Linskens joined the team in February. Linskens, who hails from Belgium, had initially opted to sit out EuroBasket this month, but also on Sunday, the Belgian Cats announced she will play for the team in the tournament.
The Valkyries also announced the team re-signed Laeticia Amihere, who played for Golden State during the preseason, to an end-of-season contract. Many fans were surprised when Amihere, who scored 20 points and 2 rebounds in 19 minutes of play in the team's first preseason game against the Sparks, was released along with Kaitlyn Chen.
Kyara Linskens joins Julie Vanloo in EuroBasket
Linskens will join Valkyries teammate Julie Vanloo and the Sparks' Julie Allemand for Belgium in the international tournament.
The 2025 EuroBasket tournament will begin on June 18, 2025, and will be played in four countries: Czechia, Germany, Greece, and Italy. The list of qualified countries includes France, Serbia, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, Portugal, Great Britain, Lithuania, Switzerland, Croatia, Slovakia, Latvia, Hungary, Belgium, Montenegro, and Slovenia.
Plenty of WNBA players have opted not to play in this year's EuroBasket. The Storm's Gabby Williams and Dominique Malonga declined to represent France, as did the Liberty's Marine Johannes and the Valkyries' Carla Leite. The Mercury will hang on to Satou Sabally (Germany) and to Natasha Mack (Montenegro), and the Aces will keep Megan Gustafson (Spain).
The Valkyries could still lost Temi Fagbenle to Great Britain and Cecilia Zandalisni to Italy, as neither has made their EuroBasket decision public yet.
Iliana Rupert could join Golden State soon
It's been understood that Iliana Rupert will join the Valkyries after the conclusion of EuroBasket, and it's unclear if Amihere's signing changes that plan. Rupert was drafted by the Las Vegas Aces as the 12th overall pick in 2021. Former Atlanta Dream head coach Tanisha Wright and the Dream's GM Dan Padover also spent a lot of time learning about Rupert ahead of the draft. "Me and Dan [Padover] had the opportunity to be in Vegas when she was drafted, so we did a lot of research on her game, and her ability to stretch the floor definitely helps in our system," Wright told The Next.
Though Rupert might not be well-known in the United States (yet!), she is a major basketball star in her home country, France. In fact, most of the Rupert family is — her father, Thierry, played professionally in France for nearly twenty years, and her brother Rayan was the 43rd overall pick by the Trail Blazers in the 2023 NBA draft.