TCU forward Marta Suárez, acquired by the Valkyries on Monday during the WNBA draft, played two seasons at Cal and averaged 17.1 points per game at TCU this past season.
Sara Nevis/Associated Press
LSU guard Flau’jae Johnson was drafted eighth overall by the Valkyries before she was traded to the Seattle Storm.
Sara Nevis/Associated Press
Duke guard Ashlon Jackson was a second-round pick by the Valkyries after averaging 11.2 points and 4.6 assists per game this past season.
Sara Nevis/Associated Press
Kokoro Tanaka, the Valkyries’ third-round pick, played for the Eneos Sunflowers in the Women’s Japan Basketball League this past season.
Burak Basturk/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty
The Golden State Valkyries selected LSU star combo guard Flau’jae Johnson with the eighth overall pick in the WNBA draft on Monday. Then they traded her to the Seattle Storm for the draft rights to second-round forward Marta Suárez and a 2028 second-round pick.
In trading Johnson, the Valkyries gave up an All-America talent for two second-round picks. Suárez may have been higher on their board than where she ultimately was selected.
Valkyries general manager Ohemaa Nyanin declined to answer questions about the trade in a post-draft news conference before revealing to ESPN late Monday evening that the trade was agreed to ahead of the No. 8 pick. On Tuesday morning, ESPN cited league sources in reporting the Valkyries decided to trade down when they were on the clock, after the players they coveted had come off the board. Seattle reportedly instructed Golden State to select Johnson, and Golden State told Seattle to pick Suárez.
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Still, questions remained unanswered after Nyanin declined on the video call to address the team’s thinking. Such as, why trade the No. 8 pick in the first round for two second-rounders, including one who can’t be taken for another two years?
“I don’t have a lot of detail to share,” Nyanin told reporters via Zoom. “One: because I’m exhausted. Two: because I want to be very thoughtful when I’m talking about other humans and their basketball abilities and how they would or would not show up for our squad.”
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When asked whether trading out of the first round was potentially due to salary cap implications, Nyanin said, “I don’t talk or comment about salary cap.” According to Spotrac, there is almost a $40,000 difference for the upcoming 2026 season and a $151,302 difference in total value for the rookie-scale contracts designated to the No. 8 and No. 16 picks. Additionally, first-round contracts guarantee rookie salary under the league’s new Collective Bargaining Agreement; second-round contracts do not.
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On a subsequent question regarding what factored into moving off of Johnson, Nyanin added that she does not typically talk publicly about team strategy to avoid giving away a competitive advantage to opposing teams: “That question has been asked and answered, and I would just say that when I’m ready to kind of speak more about what the strategy is behind it, I’ll speak on it. I’ll also say I don’t really speak about my strategy, ever, publicly because all other teams are watching to see what our strategy is.”
Nyanin clarified to ESPN, “I want to be super clear about the draft: This had nothing to do with Flau’jae or any specific athlete selection.”
Suárez, a 6-foot-3 forward, fell out of the first round before the Storm took her with the first pick (No. 16 overall) in the second round. She averaged 17.1 points, 7.4 rebounds and 1.4 steals per game at TCU last season, shooting 37% from 3-point range. A native of Spain, she played her previous two seasons at Cal, where she was also a double-figure scorer.
Her breakthrough campaign with the Horned Frogs, who made it to the Elite Eight this past season, included a unanimous first-team All-Big 12 nod.
“Marta is fierce, she’s fearless,” Nyanin said. “We have looked at her for a really long time. What I would say is her potential is really high, and as we were looking at our depth chart, looking at who we wanted to (bring) to (training) camp, we really wanted a competitive camp.
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“In terms of her position and what we want to see in camp and how competitive we want to be, we felt like she would be a great fit.”
Nyanin chose not to address whether her staff considered taking Suárez outright with the No. 8 pick.
Johnson averaged 14.6 points per game in her accomplished four-year college career. She won a national championship as a freshman and was named an Associated Press third-team All-American in each of her last two seasons. A two-way threat, Johnson also averaged 1.6 steals at LSU, where she made 139 starts in 141 games played. The 5-foot-10 combo guard led the Tigers to four NCAA Tournaments, with two appearances in the Elite Eight and another in the Final Four.
“We didn’t think that she’d be available at that point,” Storm general manager Talisa Rhea said of trading for Johnson in exchange for their No. 16 pick and another asset.
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The Valkyries picked up Duke’s Ashlon Jackson with the 23rd overall pick. The 6-foot guard averaged 11.2 points and 1.4 steals per game last season. Jackson led the Blue Devils to back-to-back Elite Eight appearances. Her buzzer-beater to upset LSU, and Johnson, in this year’s Sweet 16 served as one of the biggest March Madness highlights this spring.
Japanese shooting guard Kokoro Tanaka ended the Valkyries’ eventful draft day at No. 38 overall in the third round. The 5-8 Tanaka averaged 5.7 points, shooting 32.7% overall and 27.5% from the 3-point line, and 20.9 minutes in 28 games this past season for the Eneos Sunflowers in the Women’s Japan Basketball League.