The new WNBA team will find out who its players will be in December.
The league announced Monday that the expansion draft for the Golden State Valkyries, the league’s 13th and newest franchise, would take place on December 6.
The Valkyries will hold their inaugural season in 2025. In May, the logo and colors for the Valkyries were revealed. The team then stated that a Valkyrie came “from Norse mythology and that her nickname represented “a host of fearless and steadfast warrior women, flying through the air and sea.”
Here’s everything you need to know about the WNBA expansion draft for the Golden State Valkyries:
How will the WNBA Expansion Draft work?
At the end of the 2024 season, each of the 12 current WNBA teams will submit a complete roster to the league office. This list will detail each player whose rights the respective team owns, beginning on the last day of the 2024 regular season. The deadline to submit the list is expected to be near the end of November.
Each team will have the chance to designate up to six “protected players” who will become ineligible for selection in the expansion draft. All other players not designated as protected may be selected by Golden State.
The Valkyries will then have the chance to acquire the contract or negotiating rights of one of the available unprotected players from each of the 12 current WNBA teams.
Golden State may select a player who is not signed to a contract for the 2025 season. If this happens, the Valkyries will receive all rights to that player that the player’s existing team would hold. Golden State will have the chance to select just one player eligible to become an unrestricted free agent in February.
Players who have been under a primary player contract for at least two seasons are not eligible to be selected in the expansion draft. All other unrestricted free agents who will soon be eligible for the expansion draft are eligible for selection, provided Golden State designates that player as its primary player in January.
An interesting issue is that Golden State will be allowed to make trades from the moment player rosters are submitted through the expansion draft, in which the Valkyries could make a deal to select a particular player in the expansion draft , then send that player to another. team.
How to watch the WNBA Expansion Draft
Details are not yet available, but the WNBA Expansion Draft for the Valkyries will air on ESPN on Friday, December 6.
This article was originally published on USA TODAY: WNBA Expansion Draft Date, Rules Set for Valkyries: How it Works
