The Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) held their sixth expansion draft on December 6, 2024, for the Golden State Valkyries. This draft allowed the Golden State Valkyries to select players from the existing WNBA teams to fill their debut roster prior to the start of the 2025 WNBA season.
On September 30, 2024, the WNBA announced the expansion draft would be held on December 6, and televised on ESPN, and also announced the draft rules. Each existing WNBA team provided the league office with a list of all players to which it held contract rights as of the final day of the 2024 regular season. These 12 teams were allowed to protect a maximum of six players from their 2024 rosters (or for whom they held playing rights). The Valkyries were then permitted to select one unprotected player from each team's 2024 roster, but only one unrestricted free agent and that player could not have played under a "core player" contract for two or more seasons. During the draft, the Valkyries selected Monique Billings, who most recently had played for the Phoenix Mercury, as their sole unrestricted free agent draft pick.
Golden State was permitted to make trades prior to the expansion draft, including agreements to (1) select a given player and trade that player to another team, or (2) select or not select an available player from a given team. However, no such agreements were made public.
Key Pos.GFCPositionGuardForwardCenter
Expansion draft The following players were drafted for the roster of the Valkyries from the league's existing teams on December 6, 2024: Pick Player Position Nationality Former team WNBA years Career with the franchise Ref.1 Iliana Rupert C Atlanta Dream 2 2025–present 2 María Conde F Chicago Sky 0 —3 Veronica Burton G Connecticut Sun 3 2025–present4 Carla Leite Dallas Wings 0 20255 Temi Fágbénlé C Indiana Fever 4 2025–present6 Kate Martin G Las Vegas Aces 1 2025–present7 Stephanie Talbot F Los Angeles Sparks 6 20258 Cecilia Zandalasini Minnesota Lynx 3 2025–present9 Kayla Thornton + New York Liberty 9 2025–present10 Monique Billings Phoenix Mercury 7 2025–present11 No selection — — Seattle Storm — —12 Julie Vanloo G Washington Mystics 1 2025
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