The Golden State Valkyries have big goals. It’s no secret that owner Joe Lacob wants to bring a WNBA championship to the Bay Area within a few years. Making the playoffs and establishing a winning culture in just one season was a huge first step in the right direction. The next step is bringing championship-level players to the Valkyries.
Due to last season’s success and the ownership’s willingness to invest in the players, the Valkyries should be able to attract a lot more free agents than they did ahead of the 2025 season. Players now know what donning a Valkyries uniform means, and signing with the team won’t be considered a gamble anymore.
Like most teams, the Valkyries don’t have many players under contract for next season—only Carla Leite and Kate Martin—but Veronica Burton will surely be back with the Valkyries, and she will spend an important part of the offseason around many of the other top free agents in the league. She will make her Unrivaled debut and get a unique opportunity to recruit players.
Unrivaled could impact WNBA free agency
When 48 WNBA players spend months in one place, playing with and against each other and sharing training facilities, conversations about free agency and player movement are bound to happen. During Phoenix’s finals run, Kahleah Copper spoke about how she had been determined to recruit Alyssa Thomas before the season. Some of those conversations likely happened during Unrivaled.
This season, only a handful of Unrivaled players are still on rookie contracts. Pretty much everyone else will be a free agent. While top players like Napheesa Collier, Breanna Stewart, Kelsey Mitchell, Kelsey Plum, and Jackie Young aren’t likely to change teams, others could very well be on the move.
Burton can use her time in Miami to talk up the Valkyries as an appealing destination and form lasting connections with players that could help elevate the Valkyries from a surprising playoff team to a legit contender.
Burton will play for Mist BC alongside Alanna Smith, Allisha Gray, Arike Ogunbowale, Breanna Stewart, and Li Yueru, but will also get to connect with many other players. While Burton will have a unique opportunity to recruit players in Unrivaled, the Valkyries will have to do a lot more than that.
Considering how many players will be free agents, it promises to be a wild offseason with several teams competing for many of the same players—including some Valkyries players. Kayla Thornton and Temi Fagbenle, who will be unrestricted free agents are sure to attract a lot of attention from contending teams. Thornton was an All-Star and Fagbenle was a consistent, full-time starter.