The Golden State Valkyries selected former LSU All-American and national champion Flau’jae Johnson with the eighth overall pick in the 2026 WNBA Draft on April 13.
Her fit in the Bay immediately made sense.
Fantasies of Flau’jae lighting up “Ballhalla” lasted all of a few minutes before Golden State traded Johnson’s draft rights to the Seattle Storm in exchange for Marta Suarez’s draft rights.
The trade immediately made no sense.
“I’m going to take a beat to be able to eloquently give a response,” Valkyries general manager Ohemaa Nyanin said on draft night, per ESPN’s Alexa Philippou. “I don’t have a lot of detail to share. One, because I’m exhausted. Two, because I want to be very thoughtful when I’m talking about other humans and their basketball abilities and how they would or would not show up for our squad.”
The controversial trade came under even more fire when the Valkyries waived Suarez on Saturday, as Johnson thrives with the Storm. Nyanin finally gave her response on Tuesday.
“We thought we had the opportunity to potentially sign another athlete,” Nyanin said, per ESPN’s Kendra Andrews. “My job is to make sure we maintain an understanding of what’s happening today and then what could happen in the future. So the flexibility that is needed to really be able to withstand whatever could happen in the future is something I hold near and dear to me.”
According to Andrews, the Valkyries saved approximately $40,000 by swapping Johnson (No. 8 overall) for Suarez (No. 16 overall). Acknowledging that Nyanin knows more about maneuvering salary caps, that’s a pretty underwhelming rationale, especially if Johnson continues to blossom into the face of the franchise in Seattle.
The Valkyries will have to face the realities of their potentially huge mistake when they travel to Seattle to play Johnson and the Storm in their regular-season opener on Friday night.
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