Valkyries sign Laeticia Amihere for rest of season and waive Kyara Linskens
bittersweet news
Please post comments in the previous thread, to consolidate the conversation. I will update this post on the web site with further developments.
GSV announced this morning that Kyara Linskens has been waived. Furthermore, the WNBA Transactions page says Laeticia Amihere signed a Rest-of-Season Contract with the Golden State Valkyries.
Why was Zandalasini suspended?
The note about Zandalasini suspension might sound scary, but it’s a normal maneuver in the WNBA to save some money and free up a roster spot whenever players can’t fulfill their contract. She’ll be unsuspended after EuroBasket.
Why was Kyara Linskens waived?
Oof It’s a cold business! Kyara Linskens committed to skipping EuroBasket, but has essentially been out of the lineup. (Similar situation with Carla Leite, actually)
1. Fit issues
Linskens didn’t play badly but
as backup center, she was behind Fagbenle and also lost minutes to GSV playing small ball, with Monique Billings as a virtual center.
is a more traditional center with size and interior presence.
She is good at blocks and rebounding;
but not good for running quickly up and down the court, which is the style of play GSV is best at;
nor is she good for spacing the floor.
Linskens shot 20% from three with Dynamo Kiev (and only 1 three pointer taken with GSV in 27 minutes).
In contrast, Fagbenle is 5-16 (31.3%) from three this year. This is enough to credibly play on the perimeter and be guarded. For instance, vs the Aces, A’ja Wilson had to follow Temi to the arc which allowed GSV to attack the paint.
2. Freeing up a roster spot: Iliana Rupert and… Li Yueru???
The buzz is that Iliana Rupert will join GSV post-EuroBasket, thus GSV would need to clear a roster spot (here’s a relevant Ingemi’s article). Zandalasini’s suspension accomplishes this for June. Linskens’s waiver accomplishes this permanently. We’ll do a more careful look at Rupert at a future date.
For those who enjoy speculating about the unlikely, you can dream about Li Yueru coming, though as of Jun 4, her agent said GSV hadn’t contacted them about her trade request. That doesn’t exclude the possibility that GSV has reached out since then.
I am sure GSV is doing due diligence on the situation. On the plus side, Li is a promising player with extreme height (6-7) for a team that is undersized and she’s on a rookie contract, so would be under control for this year and two more years, which is a big deal given all the free agency change coming next year.
On the down side, Li is mad because of lack of playing time and when everyone is available, that won’t improve. As a quick comparison, Linskens is getting 8.3 min per game; Li is officially pissed about 9.1 mpg. So Li will be even more pissed once Fagbenle returns even if she gets all of Linskens’s minutes.
Why waive Linskens now and not after Eurobasket? Doesn’t GSV need a center?
Even if Iliana Rupert does join after EuroBasket, Temi Fagbenle will leave GSV for June to go play the same EuroBasket with Great Britain.
That would now leave GSV without a true center on the roster for June. The next tallest player would be Monique Billings (6-4, 192 pounds) who has the size to play center, but would take more physical punishment wrestling for rebounds and defending post-ups.
In analogy with Draymond Green on the Warriors, June GSV might actually be best with Billings as a smallball center, but may want to limit the minutes in that position. That would require getting a proper center on a replacement contract or… waiving other players(?!).
Linskens might have asked out
So from GSV’s perspective, it might be good to waive Linskens after EuroBasket. But on the flip side, it is possible that Linskens asked for a waiver early to pursue more playing time somewhere else in the WNBA. Right now there is opportunity to catch on due to the EuroBasket departures.
Update 2025-06-08-10:27pm: I forgot to mention the most obvious reason for Linskens to ask out early and that’s to play EuroBasket! And that appears to be happening. Ingemi says on Sunday, Linskens indicated in an Instagram story that she would now join the Belgian national team for the tournament.
Amihere and others may have other offers
The replacement players targeted by GSV may have other offers and the Valks may have to act quickly to sign them.
Fundamental issue: tiny rosters
Another more fundamental reason is that the WNBA has tiny rosters (12 players). In contrast, the NBA has 15 person rosters with 3 two-way contracts. Plus a whole G-League. I assume the roster size will increase with the next CBA.
Who is Laeticia Amihere again?
She was the folk hero from the Valkyries preseason.
Of the non-starters, she played the most minutes and scored the most points. In fact, after the preseason, I considered her to be fighting with Linskens for the last roster spot and Linskens won.
It made sense at the time because Linskens was a rebounding machine and has a more traditional center look. It wasn't clear what style would best fit GSV. But GSV is going further into smallball, 5-out, run-and-gun style, which needs a more dynamic athlete to run the court. It didn’t hurt that Amihere hit a couple of threes in preseason.
What’s next?
The math doesn’t quite add up.
Linskens - waived
Amihere - signed for rest of the season
That balances. But if Iliana Rupert really joins in July, there won’t be a roster spot for her unless
Cecilia Zandalasini is suspended for the rest of the season. This seems unlikely as she’s the team’s best shooter.
Someone else is waived or traded.
Speculating: The GSV players with the least playing time have been Martin, Talbot, Leite and Linskens.
Martin and Leite are the only two players signed past 2025.
That leaves Talbot in the hot seat.
Basically out of the rotation, hasn't quite looked right on injury return.
She’s shooting badly (27.8% FG and 25.0% 3P)
and she’s been a turnover machine (second worst on the team with 4.3 TOV per 36 minutes, behind the Goddess of Chaos Julie Vanloo’s 5.4 TOV/36).