The Golden State Valkyries waived six players in one preseason roster purge, trimming Miela Sowah, Ashlon Jackson, Mariella Fasoula, Ndjakalenga Mwenentanda, Cate Reese and Marta Suarez as the expansion club moved closer to its final opening-night group. The team still has 13 players on the roster and must make one more cut.
The moves keep the spotlight on flau'jae johnson, who was traded for Suarez on draft night, even though Johnson was not part of this latest round of cuts. If Suarez clears waivers, she could still be a candidate for one of the Valkyries' development spots, which have not been filled yet.
That leaves several names still hanging on the edge. Kaitlyn Chen, Kate Martin and Laeticia Amihere are the three players most likely at risk of being waived next, while six guaranteed contracts already belong to Tiffany Hayes, Kayla Thornton, Veronica Burton, Kaila Charles, Gabby Williams and Kiah Stokes. Iliana Rupert, Janelle Salaün and Cecilia Zandalasini were also major pieces of last season's success, and Juste Jocyte was the Valkyries' first-ever first-round draft pick.
The roster math is what makes this stage of the preseason unforgiving. With only 13 players in camp, the Valkyries are carrying too many names for too few available spots, and the final decisions will show which young players the franchise wants to keep developing now and which ones it is willing to expose to waivers.
For Johnson, the trade that sent her to Golden State for Suarez remains part of the larger story because it was one of the clearest signs that the Valkyries were already shaping the roster around immediate needs. The next cut will make that much clearer.
