{"id":629530,"date":"2026-04-26T09:10:18","date_gmt":"2026-04-26T09:10:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/629530\/"},"modified":"2026-04-26T09:10:18","modified_gmt":"2026-04-26T09:10:18","slug":"flaujae-johnson-eager-to-get-going-in-her-wnba-career-with-seattle-after-trade-from-valkyries-winnipeg-free-press","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/629530\/","title":{"rendered":"Flau\u2019jae Johnson eager to get going in her WNBA career with Seattle after trade from Valkyries \u2013 Winnipeg Free Press"},"content":{"rendered":"

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) \u2014 Flau\u2019jae Johnson considers one of her talents to be adapting to anything that comes her way, so getting traded from Golden State to Seattle on draft night hardly threw off her rhythm during a whirlwind couple of weeks as she begins her professional career.<\/p>\n

Now, she can\u2019t wait to get going as a WNBA rookie \u2014 and made her preseason debut in the starting lineup for the Storm in a 78-76 loss to the Valkyries on Saturday night at Chase Center.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s crazy, I was just walking out there like, \u2018Wow, I\u2019m in the WNBA,\u2019\u201d she said. \u201cWarmups is different, it\u2019s not the same. I\u2019m not with LSU, locker room\u2019s different, routine\u2019s different. But I\u2019m good at adjusting so I feel like I\u2019m doing pretty well. It\u2019s going fast, but I kind of operate well in chaos.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"LSU
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tLSU guard Flau’jae Johnson poses with WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert after being selected eighth overall by the Golden State Valkyries in the first round of the WNBA basketball draft Monday, April 13, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo\/Pamela Smith)<\/p>\n

Johnson received a warm ovation when introduced before the game, saying afterward how much that warm welcome meant \u2014 \u201cThat was cool, I\u2019ve got a lot of love for the Bay, I love the Bay.\u201d She appreciated the electric atmosphere, too.<\/p>\n

\u201cHit some shots, talking to the crowd, that was fun,\u201d she said. \u201cJust being able to play my first, getting a little touch of the pro game, especially with my teammates, we\u2019ve been playing each other and playing with guys so it felt good to play a different opponent.\u201d<\/p>\n

Johnson missed her initial two field-goal tries before a layup at the 8:32 mark of the second quarter. She finished with 12 points on 5-for-10 shooting in 23 minutes.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think she settled in really nicely and this is her first game as a pro,\u201d coach Sonia Raman said. \u201cSo I thought she did a really good job of staying with it and really trying to focus on the defensive side of the ball every time down, and that\u2019s what we\u2019re going to keep talking about.\u201d<\/p>\n

Johnson was drafted No. 8 overall by the Valkyries on April 13 out of LSU, then had her rights sent to Seattle in exchange for the rights to forward Marta Suarez of TCU along with a 2028 second-round selection. Suarez was the first pick of the second round at No. 16 overall.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was amazing. It was a great time, highlight of my life,\u201d Johnson said outside the Storm locker room before the game, noting she was as surprised as everybody else with the deal. \u201cYeah, for sure, definitely but I\u2019m excited. I\u2019m glad how things went.\u201d<\/p>\n

She has been leaning on Seattle\u2019s veteran players to become more comfortable at the next level, learning and communicating at every chance to familiarize herself with the team\u2019s system. It doesn\u2019t hurt there is a new head coach in Raman and many fresh faces, so everybody is figuring things out together.<\/p>\n

\u201cVery comforting because I\u2019m used to that,\u201d she said. \u201cAt LSU, we were building first year. (Coach Kim) Mulkey was in her first year with her group so it\u2019s definitely that same feeling. Everybody\u2019s learning each other. That\u2019s a great way to enter the group, so I\u2019m blessed to be in that position.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP WNBA: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/wnba-basketball<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN FRANCISCO (AP) \u2014 Flau\u2019jae Johnson considers one of her talents to be adapting to anything that comes…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":629531,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[629],"tags":[49,48,82,630],"class_list":{"0":"post-629530","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wnba","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-wnba"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/629530","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=629530"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/629530\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/629531"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=629530"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=629530"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=629530"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}