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Before the season began, the Golden State Valkyries fans weren't happy about how the team handled their 2025 WNBA draft.
It began with confusion around the Valkyries waiving Shyanne Sellers in training camp. That confusion then escalated into anger when No. 5 overall pick Justė Jocytė chose to prioritize her national team duties for EuroBasket Women 2025, ruling her out of the 2025 WNBA season. And that anger became full-on vitriol when the fan-favorite Kaitlyn Chen did not make the team's final roster.
The fans were angry because they wanted young, promising players to root for. Players who could become homegrown Bay Area legends, like a Stephen Curry or a Brock Purdy. That's important for any franchise, but that might be even more important for an expansion team early in its inception.
Enter Janelle Salaün and Carla Leite. They are the two French rookies who made the roster. In a tightly contested game where offense was hard to come by, Natalie Nakase put her faith in the two rookies in her closing five. That faith was rewarded with a lead-taking corner from Leite, resulting in the Valkyries' 76-74 win over the Washington Mystics.
After the game, Veronica Burton and Kayla Thornton, who had great games in their own right, had nothing but praise for Salaün and Leite.
“They don't even feel like rookies if I'm being honest. It's incredible to see. I'm just grateful they're on our side,” Burton said.
“Yeah, I'm proud of Carla. She was kind of down, and we just told her to keep going. I'm proud that she came out and forgot the last game,” Thornton said. “Janelle, she just got here. So for her to have the game that she did, it's just going to go up from here.”
Janelle Salaün stays ready
Salaün had only been with the Valkyries for less than a week, entering the Mystics game. She'd just arrived from Italy, fresh off a Serie A1 championship run in which she earned a Finals MVP trophy.
With no training camp and just a few days removed from arriving in San Francisco, Salaün earned the starting lineup nod from Natalie Nakase and helped her new team to its first-ever win. After the game, Nakase credited Salaün for her stellar debut amid some insane circumstances.
“She just seemed like she was meant for these moments,” Nakase remarked. She cited Salaün notching the first basket of the game as an example of how ready she was to play, despite the lack of time with the team. “Credit to her for wanting to really get to know all of our philosophies, offensively, defensively, prior to this. So that's her. That's her doing extra work.”
That extra work put in was going over the tape the Valkyries sent to her while she was overseas, midway through her championship run. Throughout the week before the Mystics game, Nakase emphasized how Salaün took the initiative of asking the team to send her whatever they could to keep her in the loop.
And it's a good thing she's in the loop because Salaün's skillset perfectly matches the needs of the Valkyries. Nakase described her as a “big guard,” characterizing her ability to space the floor at the power forward position. That skillset opens up the floor for everyone else on the court in a Valkyries jersey.
“Her ability [as a shot creator and playmaker] does help take a little bit of pressure off of Tiff [Hayes], who is handling a lot of pick and roll. So just having another person who can handle and pick and roll just gives them a little bit more freedom,” Nakase said.
The rookies moving forward
It's clear two games into the season that, despite being rookies, Nakase trusts Salaün and Leite. If the Mystics game is any indication of their play being sustainable, it gives Nakase and the Valkyries way more options moving forward. Both provide shooting, and neither is a liability on the defensive end. Those two traits go a long way in the WNBA.
And while there are bound to be some ups and downs, like Leite's first game, that's how it goes for rookies. And all the other variables, like Salaün's overseas commitments and the inherent language barrier, don't make it easier. But the encouraging thing is that Nakase is making the effort to make it all work.
In the same press conference, Nakase joked about the language barrier between her and Leite.
“Half the time, I don't know if [Leite] can understand what I'm saying,” Nakase laughed. ”So that's why we decided to do signals. But yeah, whether it's English or whether it's French, it doesn't matter. She just, you know, she just hoops and that's what I love about her.”
