Josiah: [[ The offense of Iliana Rupert and Fenerbahce, the defense of Leïla Lacan (with a heuristic of defensive evaluations), and wrapping up the 2025 shot selection discussion, with a note on what it could mean for teams with new head coach hires.
I am required to pay money in order to post in this discussion group. As far as I know not all of the hundreds of people who post on dubnation HQ are required to pay in order to post. Why is this happening only on Valkyrie nation? Especially at a time when there’s nothing going on in Valkyrie nation.
VALKYRIES PRESIDENT JESS SMITH WINS INAUGURAL WNBA BUSINESS EXECUTIVE LEADERSHIP AWARD PRESENTED BY DELOITTE
Award Recognizes Exceptional Leadership In Driving Business Transformation
OAKLAND, Calif. – Golden State Valkyries President Jess Smith has won the WNBA Business Executive Leadership Award presented by Deloitte, the league announced today. The award recognizes a WNBA team president who has demonstrated exceptional leadership in driving meaningful business transformation.
In the Valkyries' inaugural season, Smith collaborated with Golden State stakeholders to build a front office staff of more than 60 employees dedicated to elevating women's sports. Under her leadership, the Valkyries became the first team in women's sports history to surpass 20,000 season ticket deposits and the first WNBA team to reach over 10,000 season tickets. The team shattered WNBA attendance records with an average of 18,064 fans per game while selling out all 23 home games during the regular and postseason.
Under Smith's leadership, Golden State executed a first-of-its-kind partnership model by securing founding partners who shared the Valkyries' vision for elevating women's sports and creating meaningful impact. Smith prioritized alignment with organizations committed to driving change as part of their investment, including CarMax, JP Morgan Chase, Kaiser Permanente, OLLY, PG&E, Rakuten, Sephora, United Airlines, and Waymo. These partnerships delivered meaningful community impact, including Kaiser Permanente's "She Plays On" initiative, which donates $25 for every Valkyries jersey purchased to keep Bay Area girls in sports, and the PG&E Corporation Foundation's "Free Throws For Futures" program, which will donate $500 dollars for every free throw made to organizations supporting Bay Area youth.
On the court, the Valkyries set the WNBA expansion record with 23 wins and became the first expansion franchise to clinch a playoff berth in their inaugural season. The team earned several league awards with Head Coach Natalie Nakase being named the 2025 State Street Investment Management SPY WNBA Coach of the Year, guard Veronica Burton voted the Kia WNBA Most Improved Player as well as to the WNBA All-Defensive Second Team, and forward Janelle Salaün named to the WNBA All-Rookie Team.
For this award, teams submitted candidates that excelled across four key business transformation categories including people and culture, revenue generation, stakeholder engagement, and innovation. Voting was conducted by a committee of league leadership.
Dang, the league is definitely on notice and everyone is snatching our people up 😧
I'm sure the new opportunities are great, and I wouldn't say they shouldn't jump on them, but I was really hoping that everyone would want to stay and see things through since we had a huge inaugural season.
It’s a little wild. If this is a trend, it’s like when the MNBA went poaching off the Kerr-era Warriors org/coaching staffers immediately, as the org at that point ushered in a basketball sea change of dynastic proportions. Except this is happening now to an expansion team. Granted, it might just be another or other expansion teams doing the poaching but maybe that’s even more significant—you’d think more established teams would be the beacons here, but it seems the Valkyrie way might be what the future of the league sees as the true guiding light here going forward.
Which would be understandable, but still unfortunate if that's the case because I don't see much of a difference joining another year one team vs continuing with a year 2 team. Guess we'll have to see where she ends up since I don't see why she would change unless she's getting a huge jump in job position and responsibilities or a big bump in pay.
One thing to note, all Spanish teams’ EuroLeague game broadcasting rights belong to Movistar+, a paid subscription service in Spain. Because of this, the EuroLeague Women YouTube channel is allowed to livestream those games but not keep full replays on their channel. So if you are following teams like Zaragoza or Girona, make sure to plan accordingly 😭
No probs! An oomf on Twitter was looking for the replay of today’s Praha vs. Girona game, and it totally reminded me. So yeah, the teams they play against(with valks in them) like Praha, Mersin, Fener, and Venezia will be affected too😭
Awesome! Looks like all our Valkyries, present and former are doing pretty darn well! I'm most impressed that Chen is getting high minutes and contributing so well as a bench player.
Josiah: [[ The offense of Iliana Rupert and Fenerbahce, the defense of Leïla Lacan (with a heuristic of defensive evaluations), and wrapping up the 2025 shot selection discussion, with a note on what it could mean for teams with new head coach hires.
https://riseofthevalkyries.substack.com/p/individual-hoopers-and-euroleague ]]
Valkyries in Euroleague Round 4:
https://baloncestoenvivo.feb.es/Partido.aspx?p=2479467
Zaragoza [87]: Gueye 16/9r Fingall 14 Vorackova 12/6r Mawuli 11 Bankole 10 Hempe 8 Pueyo 7 Flores 4 Hermosa 2 LEITE 1
Ferrol [57]: Sotolova 21 Joiner 12 Melia 7 Millan 5 Daniels 4 Erjavec 4 Rodriguez 2 Sanchez Ramos 2
https://www.legabasketfemminile.com/MatchStats.aspx?ID=313&MID=53351
Derthona [57]: Dotto 13 Kunaiyi-Akpanah 11/17r Suarez 8 Penna 4/6r
Venezia [72]: Mavunga 16 CHARLES 11/7r Dojkic 10 Santucci 6/7r Holmes 5 Cubaj 4/6r
https://baloncestoenvivo.feb.es/Partido.aspx?p=2479472
Girona [90]: Coulibaly 16/9r Carter 16 AMIHERE 14 Holm 10/9a JOCYTÉ 9 Quevedo 2 Pendande 2 Badosa 0
Araski [49]: Dornstauder 11 Toussaint 10 Lahtinen 10 Hill 9 Brotons 2 Lawrence 0
From Valhalla Bball
Wonderful photos of Valkyrie season.
https://open.substack.com/pub/wnbaroughnotes/p/rough-notes-photo-essay-blood-family?r=2gqyj&utm_medium=ios
Kenzo:
[[ Caught up with Valkyries’ star Veronica Burton today at her career talk at Marina Middle School through Career Girls.
She shared what she’s done this offseason, her upcoming first season with Unrivaled, and attending the Warriors opener.
https://clutchpoints.com/wnba/golden-state-valkyries/valkyries-veronica-burton-opens-up-1st-golden-state-offseason-unrivaled-debut ]]
https://xcancel.com/kenzofuku/status/1981863703323746483?s=61&t=P_FoYb59qpl6sz-fj5Z51g
And a bonus, Valks at the GSW opener: https://xcancel.com/ChaseCenter/status/1981553976232595553
Euroleague games…Valkyries in CAPITALS
https://www.fiba.basketball/en/events/euroleague-women-25-26/games/128311-FCB-SCH#boxscore
Charleville-Mezieres [79]: Franchelin 14/9a Dixon 12/7r Jerome 12 Strunc 11 Joens 9 Hirsch 3
Schio [81]: ZANDALASINI 15 Shepard 14 Verona 13 Steinberga 9 Mestdagh 8 Conde 7/7a Badiane 5/6r
https://www.fiba.basketball/en/events/euroleague-women-25-26/games/128397-FENER-OSFP#boxscore
Fenerbahce [94]: Meesseman 17/6r RUPERT 15/7r McBride 13 Onar 11 Gustafson 9/6r Cakir 9 Allen 5/6r Allemand 5/12a Uzun 2
Olympiacos [73]: Johnson 17 Woolfolk 15/6a Christinaki 12 Kollatou 10/6a Jakubcova 0
https://www.fiba.basketball/en/events/euroleague-women-25-26/games/128329-CBK-ZARAG#boxscore
Cukurova [72]: Burke 22 Hayes 21 Geiselsoder 14 Vanloo 0/8a Mompremier 0
Zaragoza [79]: LEITE 22 Pueyo 15/8r Ortiz 12 Mawuli 12/6a Gueye 11 Hempe 7 Fingall 0 Hermosa 0 Flores 0 Vorackova 0
https://www.fiba.basketball/en/events/euroleague-women-25-26/games/128299-VBW-USK#boxscore
Gdynia [51]: Banaszak 19 Hebard 8 Ekh 5
USK Prague [97]: Hof 18/10r Ayayi 18/6r/8a Astier 16/7a Cechova 12/6r CHEN 10/7r/10a Timpson 8
https://www.fiba.basketball/en/events/euroleague-women-25-26/games/128298-GIR-TBB#boxscore
Girona [92]: Coulibaly 26/6r JOCYTÉ 23 Pendande 11 AMIHERE 7 Quevedo 6 Carter 5 Badosa 0
Bourges [62]: Naigre 14 Djaldi-Tabdi 11 Pouye 11 Foppossi 1
From Valhalla Bball
I am required to pay money in order to post in this discussion group. As far as I know not all of the hundreds of people who post on dubnation HQ are required to pay in order to post. Why is this happening only on Valkyrie nation? Especially at a time when there’s nothing going on in Valkyrie nation.
It was an unintentional setting which I changed.
VALKYRIES PRESIDENT JESS SMITH WINS INAUGURAL WNBA BUSINESS EXECUTIVE LEADERSHIP AWARD PRESENTED BY DELOITTE
Award Recognizes Exceptional Leadership In Driving Business Transformation
OAKLAND, Calif. – Golden State Valkyries President Jess Smith has won the WNBA Business Executive Leadership Award presented by Deloitte, the league announced today. The award recognizes a WNBA team president who has demonstrated exceptional leadership in driving meaningful business transformation.
In the Valkyries' inaugural season, Smith collaborated with Golden State stakeholders to build a front office staff of more than 60 employees dedicated to elevating women's sports. Under her leadership, the Valkyries became the first team in women's sports history to surpass 20,000 season ticket deposits and the first WNBA team to reach over 10,000 season tickets. The team shattered WNBA attendance records with an average of 18,064 fans per game while selling out all 23 home games during the regular and postseason.
Under Smith's leadership, Golden State executed a first-of-its-kind partnership model by securing founding partners who shared the Valkyries' vision for elevating women's sports and creating meaningful impact. Smith prioritized alignment with organizations committed to driving change as part of their investment, including CarMax, JP Morgan Chase, Kaiser Permanente, OLLY, PG&E, Rakuten, Sephora, United Airlines, and Waymo. These partnerships delivered meaningful community impact, including Kaiser Permanente's "She Plays On" initiative, which donates $25 for every Valkyries jersey purchased to keep Bay Area girls in sports, and the PG&E Corporation Foundation's "Free Throws For Futures" program, which will donate $500 dollars for every free throw made to organizations supporting Bay Area youth.
On the court, the Valkyries set the WNBA expansion record with 23 wins and became the first expansion franchise to clinch a playoff berth in their inaugural season. The team earned several league awards with Head Coach Natalie Nakase being named the 2025 State Street Investment Management SPY WNBA Coach of the Year, guard Veronica Burton voted the Kia WNBA Most Improved Player as well as to the WNBA All-Defensive Second Team, and forward Janelle Salaün named to the WNBA All-Rookie Team.
For this award, teams submitted candidates that excelled across four key business transformation categories including people and culture, revenue generation, stakeholder engagement, and innovation. Voting was conducted by a committee of league leadership.
Round 3 Turkish League
Fenerbache With Rupert and Billings
https://tbf.org.tr/ligler/kbsl-2025-2026/mac-detay/304629/istatistik
Kocaeli [70]: Sonmez 16 Martinez 15/9r Reimer 12 Zabotkaite 11 Jones 8/7r
Fenerbahce [86]: Rupert 18/7r/6a Allen 18 Billings 17/10r Onar 15 Cakir 7 Uzun 5/6a Allemand 0/6a
Valhalla Bball
Round 3 Spanish League
With Jocyté and Amihere
https://baloncestoenvivo.feb.es/Partido.aspx?p=2479465
Joventut Badalona [64]: Howard 16/7r Dembele 12 Ebo 10 Ramette 10 Piera 8/6r Sivka 4
Girona [71]: Jocyte 22/6r/7a Amihere 12 Pendande 8/7r Quevedo 3
With Leite
https://baloncestoenvivo.feb.es/Partido.aspx?p=2479460
Gernika [97]: Olaeta 19/7a Westerik 16 Jankovic 15 Bessoir 15 Adams 13/10r Castedo 13 Matarranz 6
Zaragoza [83]: Gueye 19/9r Bankole 12 Fingall 11 Vorackova 10 Mawuli 10 Flores 8 Pueyo 5 Leite 4
Valhalla Bball
Round 3 Italian EUROLEAGUE games with Zandalasini ( Schio) and Charles (Venezia)
https://www.legabasketfemminile.com/MatchStats.aspx?ID=313&MID=53346
Broni [44]: Hayes 10/6r Cornelius 6 Archer 4
Schio [87]: Shepard 18 Keys 16 Andre’ 14/7r Mestdagh 14 Zandalasini 8 Steinberga 2 Conde 2
https://www.legabasketfemminile.com/MatchStats.aspx?ID=313&MID=53348
Venezia [95]: Fassina 23/6r Santucci 15 Holmes 13 Cubaj 12/11r Dojkic 8 Charles 7 Mavunga 5
Roseto [73]: Puisis 20 Ustby 18/9r Nativi 4
Valhalla Bball
[[ Valkyries thank Head video coordinator/coach development Sidney Dobner
Dang I wonder which team snatched her up 🥲 ]]
https://www.reddit.com/r/valkyries/s/0ArN6cq3F8
NoOooo
Dang, the league is definitely on notice and everyone is snatching our people up 😧
I'm sure the new opportunities are great, and I wouldn't say they shouldn't jump on them, but I was really hoping that everyone would want to stay and see things through since we had a huge inaugural season.
I didn't see who grabbed her, but the first guess would be the Portland Fire since ex-Valks Vanja is running POR now.
It’s a little wild. If this is a trend, it’s like when the MNBA went poaching off the Kerr-era Warriors org/coaching staffers immediately, as the org at that point ushered in a basketball sea change of dynastic proportions. Except this is happening now to an expansion team. Granted, it might just be another or other expansion teams doing the poaching but maybe that’s even more significant—you’d think more established teams would be the beacons here, but it seems the Valkyrie way might be what the future of the league sees as the true guiding light here going forward.
Which would be understandable, but still unfortunate if that's the case because I don't see much of a difference joining another year one team vs continuing with a year 2 team. Guess we'll have to see where she ends up since I don't see why she would change unless she's getting a huge jump in job position and responsibilities or a big bump in pay.
I do assume bump in pay and title; also she may have personal reasons to prefer a location…
That's fair :)
Valkyries Civil War: Janelle and Kaitlyn vs Laeticia and Juste
https://www.fiba.basketball/en/events/euroleague-women-25-26/games/128296-USK-GIR#boxscore
https://www.fiba.basketball/en/events/euroleague-women-25-26/news/elw-2025-26-week-2-recap
https://youtu.be/mTT5VH1jtY8
Amihere looks so much better playing for Girona than she did playing for the Valkyries. Then again there’s not much guarding!
Familia Schio with Zandalasini tomorrow, October 16 at 11AM on YouTube.
Billings ad Rupert.
FYI the dates in this series of posts (Oct 7-14) are all mixed up.
https://www.fiba.basketball/en/events/euroleague-women-25-26/games/128394-VBC-FENER#boxscore
Valencia [72]: Fam 17/7r Carrera 17 Buenavida 13 Romero 6/6r/12a Alexander 6 Ben Abdelkader 5 Atkinson 3 Iagupova 3
Fenerbahce [75]: Billings 20/6r Rupert 19/12r Allen 12 Allemand 5/8r/8a Uzun 4 Cakir 3
Salaün, Chen, Amihere, Jocyté
https://www.fiba.basketball/en/events/euroleague-women-25-26/games/128296-USK-GIR#boxscore
USK Prague [60]: Astier 17/6a Hof 10/7r Ayayi 10 Salaun 10 Chen 9 Timpson 0
Girona [75]: Holm 15 Amihere 14/8r Carter 11 Quevedo 10 Pendande 8 Jocyte 0/6a
Leite
https://www.fiba.basketball/en/events/euroleague-women-25-26/games/128327-ZARAG-REYER#boxscore
Zaragoza [80]: Fingall 16 Hempe 15 Gueye 11 Leite 10 Pueyo 5 Flores 5 Vorackova 0
Reyer Venezia [84]: Holmes 24/9r Mavunga 18 Charles 11 Cubaj 10 Dojkic 3 Santucci 2/7a
One thing to note, all Spanish teams’ EuroLeague game broadcasting rights belong to Movistar+, a paid subscription service in Spain. Because of this, the EuroLeague Women YouTube channel is allowed to livestream those games but not keep full replays on their channel. So if you are following teams like Zaragoza or Girona, make sure to plan accordingly 😭
Thanks for the warning. That’s subtle!
No probs! An oomf on Twitter was looking for the replay of today’s Praha vs. Girona game, and it totally reminded me. So yeah, the teams they play against(with valks in them) like Praha, Mersin, Fener, and Venezia will be affected too😭
Do I dare ask what an oomf is?
One of my friends! Sorry should’ve just spell it out
After spending a summer with Coach Nakase, other possibilities came to mind for the last two letters
Omg hahahahaha I am crying😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
[[ This week's Where are the Valkyries? column includes the start of EuroLeague play, some news on player who did not finish the season with the Valkyries, and some game video links for this week: https://valhalla.basketball/blog/2025/10/13/where-are-the-valkyries-10-13-25-edition/ ]]
Awesome! Looks like all our Valkyries, present and former are doing pretty darn well! I'm most impressed that Chen is getting high minutes and contributing so well as a bench player.
Spanish League with Leite (Zaragoza)
https://baloncestoenvivo.feb.es/Partido.aspx?p=2479454
Leganes [47]: Dodson 15/10r Sangare 10/9r Herlihy 6/6r Bosgana 2 Soriano 0 Bermejo 0
Zaragoza [68]: Bankole 16/6r Hempe 10 Pueyo 7 Leite 7 Vorackova 4 Fingall 3 Flores 0
Turkish league with Billings, Rupert
https://tbf.org.tr/ligler/kbsl-2025-2026/mac-detay/304628/istatistik
Orman [62]: Anigwe 22/12r Fraser 15/10r DeShields 8 Dillard 3
Fenerbahce [80]: Billings 22/7r Rupert 15/6r Allen 14 Cakir 10 Allemand 7/6r/13a Uzun 2/8a
Ooooohhhhaaaaa and Messeman. Fenerbache powerhouse!