This year's EuroBasket moves to the elimination stage beginning Tuesday, June 24, and the very first game will pit two Valkyries teammates against one another — even though one of them hasn't made it over to San Francisco yet. Janelle Salaün and Justé Jocyté will meet when they represent France and Lithuania, respectively, at the Peace and Friendship stadium in Piraeus, Greece.
Of the two, Salaün and France will enter the game as the favorites, something that's only logical considering the team has thus far dominated their opponents and won the silver medal in the Paris Olympic Games. France won 71-69 over Turkey on June 18, 92-56 over Greece June 19, and 111-37 over Switzerland on June 21.
But that doesn't mean Lithuania hasn't put in strong effort as well. The team beat Slovenia 77-71 on June 18, defeated Serbia 74-63 on June 19, but were beat 65-51 by Italy on June 21.
Salaün and Jocyté joined the Valkyries at different points in the year
Golden State signed Salaün in early February alongside Kyara Linskens, and Chloe Bibby. The news was greeted with excitement from fans who were familiar with her performance at the Paris Games, and Salaün has since won over Americans who didn't know too much about her before she joined the WNBA. After the Olympics she averaged 14.8 points per game for Famila Schio in the Italian Serie A1 league.
Jocyté was drafted by the Valkyries as the No. 5 overall pick (also the team's first-ever WNBA draft pick) in May. Despite the initial furor over the choice (some fans were disgruntled because they weren't familiar with the young star, and there was confusion over whether or not she would join the team this season), at this point plenty of fans are just looking forward to seeing her play at Chase Center.
In addition to her participation on the national team, Jocytė has played with DLC ASVEL Féminin since 2019 — the same team the second overall draft pick Dominique Malonga played with. She's averaged 12.7 points, 2.7 assists and 1.8 steals per game while shooting 35% from beyond the arc for ASVEL.
In May, a basketball fan account announced Jocytė will miss the 2025 WNBA season, and will instead join the Valkyries in 2026. Jocytė shares her own updates on Instagram on the account @jocytee. A second account, @jocyteball, shares updates about the hooper that are strictly basketball-related. "JJ chose to focus on @eurobasketwomen with Lithuania," the Instagram Story message reads. "She will start playing in the WNBA with the Valkyries in 2026."
EuroBasket has broken records so far
This year's women's EuroBasket has gotten off to a rousing start, and the Peace and Friendship Stadium has already seen audience attendance records broken. On June 20 more than 8,000 fans packed into the stadium to see the match between Greece and France, a new 21st century record.