Preseason 1: Golden State Valkyries vs Los Angeles Sparks, 7:00 PM PDT. The first game of the franchise!

Who will make the final 12-player roster?

I do plan to attend as credentialed media, so if you have any ideas for questions for me to ask coaches or players, let me know in the comments.

How to watch

• KPIX+ (Bay Area), available on Fubo and YouTube TV

• WNBA League Pass if you are out of the blackout region

Injury report

• Cecilia Zandalasini - Doubtful- Right Foot

• Migna Touré - Questionable - Personal Reasons

What to expect

From the Valkyries: High energy, ragged basketball! Coach Nakase said she’s been working only on defense in camp. So let’s see if that shows in connected, active defense. On offense, it will presumably be very rudimentary stuff: simple pick and rolls, hand-offs on the perimeter, some post-ups… maybe a split cut or two if the neighboring Warriors are any influence?

Everyone playing will be fighting for a roster spot. (Discussed in more detail below.)

The LA Sparks actually have a lot of star power with their roster:

• Cameron Brink

• Kelsey Plum

• Rae Burrell

• Azurá Stevens

• Dearica Hamby

• Rickea Jackson

• Mercedes Russell

• Odyssey Sims

• Julie Allemand

Plus new draft picks Sarah Ashlee Barker, Liatu King, and Sania Feagin, and rookie Shaneice Swain.

This is preseason, so it’s unclear how many of the stars will be getting their pre-season cardio.

The state of the Valkyries roster

After the surprising Day 1 cut of #17 pick Shyanne Sellers, there remain 17 players in training camp who are officially fighting for 12 roster spots. Juste Jocyte will have a spot if she reports this season. However, there is a significant chance that she will stay in Europe through Eurobasket in June.

The current roster looks like this:

PG: Veronica Burton/Carla Leite/Julie Vanloo

SG: Tiffany Hayes(/Justė Jocytė)/Mamignan Touré/Kate Martin/Kaitlyn Chen*

SF: Stephanie Talbot/Cecilia Zandalasini/Janelle Salaün/Shyanne Sellers

PF: Kayla Thornton/Monique Billings/Laeticia Amihere*/Chloe Bibby

C: Temi Fagbenle/Kyara Linskens/Elissa Cunane*

Richard Cohen has a nice overview of who’s likely to make the final 12.

• The bolded players have guaranteed contract money and experience so they are a near-lock to stay. (The “near” part is that GSV still has plenty of money under the cap so in theory, GSV could waive a contract or two.)

• The * players are underdogs to be on the 12-player roster.

Also bear in mind that teams can keep 12 and 'temporarily suspend' additional players who haven't yet shown up, as long as they have the cap space. With all the international players on this roster, and a EuroBasket Women taking place in June, the Valkyries may well take advantage of that option.

It seems likely that GSV will try to stash (i.e. suspend their contracts and let them play as pros overseas) as many of these players as possible using this option.