At last, Valkyries Expansion Draft (and trades) to be announced Fri Dec 6, 3:30pm Pacific on ESPN
Finally, players!
Below we have the WNBA FAQ on the Expansion Draft, plus another explainer. And if you want full drama, hope and disappointment, check out our team-by-team review of possible draftees:
Also, if you want to go deeper than the details in this article, Her Hoop Stats has an excellent series of articles on expansion draft possibilities and salary cap details:
Update (2024-12-05, 7am): GSV reveal their new uniforms
https://valkyries.wnba.com/2025-jerseys
Pretty straightforward.
For those of you who really want a jersey, their press release also says:
The uniforms are being revealed with activations throughout the day to celebrate the milestone. JPMorgan Chase and Kaiser Permanente are hosting a scavenger hunt across San Francisco and Oakland, hiding jerseys in local Bay Area businesses for fans to find and claim. Fans can participate in the scavenger hunt by following the team’s social media accounts. Later in the day, Salesforce Tower and Chase Center will light up in violet, honoring the Valkyries inaugural uniform unveil.
The WNBA’s FAQ on the Expansion Draft
Q: What is an Expansion Draft?
A: An Expansion Draft is a process used by professional sports leagues to allow a new team to build its roster by selecting players from existing teams. In this case, the WNBA’s 13th franchise, the Golden State Valkyries, which will debut in the 2025 season, will be able to select a player from a designated pool of unprotected players from each of the current 12 WNBA teams.
Q: When will the 2025 WNBA Expansion Draft Presented by State Farm occur?
A: The Expansion Draft is scheduled for Friday, December 6, 2024, at 6:30 pm ET and will be broadcast on ESPN.
Q: Which players will be available in the Expansion Draft?
A: Each of the existing 12 WNBA teams will submit a Roster List that includes every player they have rights to, covering active, suspended, draft list/reserved, core, and retired lists. Each team can protect up to six players from this Roster List who will not be available for selection. All other players on the team’s Roster List who are not protected will be made available for selection by Golden State in the Expansion Draft.
Q: When do teams have to submit their Roster List?
A: Teams must submit their Roster List by Monday, November 25.
Q: How many players can the Golden State Valkyries select?
A: The Valkyries will have the opportunity to select one available player from each of the current 12 teams.
Q: Can Golden State select a player from a team’s Roster List who is not signed for the 2025 season?
A: Yes. If a selected player is not signed for the 2025 season, Golden State will receive whatever rights to such player the existing team would have had if that player was not selected in the Expansion Draft. Golden State will acquire the player’s contract if a selected player is signed for the 2025 season.
Q: Can Golden State select a player from a team’s Roster List who will be an unrestricted free agent after 2024?
A: Golden State may only select one player in the Expansion Draft eligible to become an unrestricted free agent after the 2024 season. That player may be selected only if they have not previously played under a Core Player contract for two or more seasons. Golden State may then designate that player as its one Core Player in January.
Q: What about former players?
A: Each team’s submitted Roster List for the Expansion Draft will only include players on the team’s active, suspended, draft list/reserved, core, and retired lists as of the final day of the 2024 regular season.
Q: Does Golden State have to select players according to on-court position?
A: There are no on-court positional requirements. Golden State can choose players regardless of position, depending on team needs and available players.
Q: Does Golden State have to build its entire team through the Expansion Draft?
A: No. The Expansion Draft is just the start of Golden State’s roster-building process. After the Expansion Draft, Golden State will participate in the typical team roster-building functions in 2025, including the free agency period, which begins in February 2025, and the WNBA Draft Presented by State Farm, which will take place on Monday, April 14, 2025. Golden State currently holds the No. 5 overall pick and the fifth pick in the second and third rounds.
More details on the Expansion Draft
Too Long; Didn't Read
Each current WNBA team can protect up to six players from being selected
The Golden State Valkyries will select from a designated pool of available players from each of the 12 current teams
The Golden State Valkyries may make pre-expansion draft trades, including deals to pick specific players and trade them to different teams
The Golden State Valkyries may only select one player set to become a 2024 unrestricted free agent.
The nitty gritty rules
The WNBA’s 13th franchise, the Golden State Valkyries, set to begin play in 2025, will begin assembling the team’s inaugural roster when the league conducts the Golden State Expansion Draft on Friday, December 6, on ESPN.
Golden State will have the ability to select from a designated pool of available players as designated by each of the current 12 teams.
Following the conclusion of the 2024 WNBA season and in advance of the Expansion Draft, each of the existing teams will be required to submit to the league office a Roster List that includes every player to whom the team has rights – players on the team’s active, suspended, draft list/reserved, core, and retired lists – as of the final day of the 2024 regular season. The deadline for the submission of the Roster List will be determined at a later date but is expected to be approximately 10 days prior to the date of the Expansion Draft.
The submitted Roster List of each of the current 12 teams will be required to designate a maximum of six “Protected Players” who will not be available for selection in the Expansion Draft. All other players on each team’s Roster List will be eligible for selection by the Valkyries (“Available Expansion Draft players)”.
Golden State will have the opportunity to acquire the player contract of, or the negotiating rights to, one available player from each of the current 12 teams.
If a player not signed to a contract for the 2025 season is selected, Golden State shall receive whatever rights to such player that the existing team would have had if that player was not selected in the Expansion Draft. The Valkyries will only be able to select one player in the Expansion Draft who is eligible to become an unrestricted free agent following the 2024 season. Golden State may choose such a player provided that the player has not previously played pursuant to a Core Player contract for two or more seasons. Golden State may then designate that player as its one Core Player in January. Any unrestricted free agents not selected in the Expansion Draft and not designated as a Core Player by their current team may be signed by any team, including Golden State, once the free agency period opens in February.
Between the time that the Roster Lists are submitted and a designated time on the day before the Expansion Draft, Golden State will be permitted to make trades with existing teams, including (i) an agreement to select a particular player from the list of Available Expansion Draft players, and trade that player to a team other than their existing team; and (ii) an agreement to select (or not select) a particular player from such trading team’s list of Available Expansion Draft players.
Reminder: the protected players will NOT be announced publicly
You can imagine how much outcry and drama could erupt over these lists.
Schindler on the draft: https://tgnwnba.com/p/2025-wnba-expansion-draft-assessing-the-golden-state-valkyries
So… what should we talk about on the site for the next few weeks until free agency at the start of Feb?
My ideas are:
- review of each drafted player and their contract status etc
- extended early Draft Tourney to help us follow the college basketball season
- interviews with experienced WNBA analysts (I have a few in mind, but also would need help figuring out what to ask about)
- survey of history of WNBA up till now
- the random press releases that GSV sends me… they will probably have events and announcements to keep mindshare through Feb.
- guest posts from you folks about whatever you want to talk about
I’m thinking of having a 1-2 posts / week pace. I liked doing the expansion draft preview team by team, but I didn’t like that there were so many… it’s more fun when all the commenters can return to the same page and interact.
Thoughts? Ideas?