Great article!! I’m curious about your comments that Nika would certainly be picked by the Valkyries if she’s not protected. From what I’ve been seeing, it seems unlikely Nika will play in the 2025 season due to her ACL injury. Would they likely pick her because of the lack of other available options from the Seattle roster even though she wouldn’t be able to play?
Thanks! Yes, the Valkyries won't have much to choose from when it comes to Seattle's roster since the Storm have so many players as Unrestricted Free Agents. But most of those UFA players aren't anywhere near the SuperMax level. It would be bad business for Golden State to use their one UFA pick on a player like Sami Whitcomb or Mercedes Russell and pay them $250,000+ with all due respect to those players. So if the GM isn't doing that, their likely only option would be Mackenzie Holmes or Nika Mühl. Whichever player is left unprotected. Since Mühl has been in the Seattle system for a year, I believe she will be protected and Holmes will be left exposed.
Mühl has at least played a little bit in the WNBA, so she would be easier to scout for Golden State. And I'm not certain if Nika will miss the entire 2025. It really depends on how her recovery goes. I could see her being suspended due to injury for next season but if the Valkyries did take her, they'd still have her under rookie contract for 2026 and a team option in 2027 before she becomes a Restricted Free Agent in 2028.
Yeah, I was curious about that. I could certainly see them passing on the Storm if they felt it wasn't worth bringing the player in even for a training camp look. If that is the case, maybe they skip a couple of different teams. We will find out tomorrow!
If I’m Vegas, I protect Tip Hayes before Stokes—-Stokes has always been the weakest link in their starting 5 and I’d be sniffing up FAs to fill her spot (Natasha Howard?/Brionne Jones—-hell, maybe Nneka with this offseason in Seattle. And I also don’t see MINN protecting Diamond for the very reasons you said.
If Valkyries do snag up Mac Holmes, there’s a good chance they pick up Grace Berger from Indy. (I low key hope they pass on Mac and Indy drops Grace before season in final roster in May and we grab her up. IU doesn’t have a history of producing WNBA caliber players, but I like these two’s chemistry, passion & 2 way play) KLS IMO has never lived up to all of that UCONN glow..could it be because she’s not landed in a spot long enough to develop, maybe…but I don’t think I’d take her.
I’ve seen some mocks have GSV picking Kate Martin. I think this is a smart move. She has that new generation fan base that will be a bump in GSV tickets—LVA doesn’t need that.
Great article!! I’m curious about your comments that Nika would certainly be picked by the Valkyries if she’s not protected. From what I’ve been seeing, it seems unlikely Nika will play in the 2025 season due to her ACL injury. Would they likely pick her because of the lack of other available options from the Seattle roster even though she wouldn’t be able to play?
Thanks! Yes, the Valkyries won't have much to choose from when it comes to Seattle's roster since the Storm have so many players as Unrestricted Free Agents. But most of those UFA players aren't anywhere near the SuperMax level. It would be bad business for Golden State to use their one UFA pick on a player like Sami Whitcomb or Mercedes Russell and pay them $250,000+ with all due respect to those players. So if the GM isn't doing that, their likely only option would be Mackenzie Holmes or Nika Mühl. Whichever player is left unprotected. Since Mühl has been in the Seattle system for a year, I believe she will be protected and Holmes will be left exposed.
Mühl has at least played a little bit in the WNBA, so she would be easier to scout for Golden State. And I'm not certain if Nika will miss the entire 2025. It really depends on how her recovery goes. I could see her being suspended due to injury for next season but if the Valkyries did take her, they'd still have her under rookie contract for 2026 and a team option in 2027 before she becomes a Restricted Free Agent in 2028.
I’ve also seen mocks where they don’t pick anyone from us…but I agree that Mac is the one person they would pick…
Yeah, I was curious about that. I could certainly see them passing on the Storm if they felt it wasn't worth bringing the player in even for a training camp look. If that is the case, maybe they skip a couple of different teams. We will find out tomorrow!
If I’m Vegas, I protect Tip Hayes before Stokes—-Stokes has always been the weakest link in their starting 5 and I’d be sniffing up FAs to fill her spot (Natasha Howard?/Brionne Jones—-hell, maybe Nneka with this offseason in Seattle. And I also don’t see MINN protecting Diamond for the very reasons you said.
If Valkyries do snag up Mac Holmes, there’s a good chance they pick up Grace Berger from Indy. (I low key hope they pass on Mac and Indy drops Grace before season in final roster in May and we grab her up. IU doesn’t have a history of producing WNBA caliber players, but I like these two’s chemistry, passion & 2 way play) KLS IMO has never lived up to all of that UCONN glow..could it be because she’s not landed in a spot long enough to develop, maybe…but I don’t think I’d take her.
I’ve seen some mocks have GSV picking Kate Martin. I think this is a smart move. She has that new generation fan base that will be a bump in GSV tickets—LVA doesn’t need that.