Janelle Salaün won one of the WNBA’s most prominent individual honors. Unanimously.
But the feelings that come with it are mixed.
The 6-foot-2 French forward last week was named the WNBA’s 2026 Sixth Player of the Year, the first unanimous winner since the award debuted in 2007. The 25-year-old received all 74 votes after setting single-season records for points and 3-pointers by a reserve.
Valkyries assistant coach Sugar Rodgers, who won the same award while anchoring the New York Liberty’s bench in 2017, knows it’s a piece of hardware honoring sacrifice.
“Most of us are just like, ‘Throw that award in the trash,’ because that’s the kind of season it feels like,” said Rodgers, recalling the frustration of excelling in a role that meant putting personal ambition on hold.
The Sixth Player of the Year trophy is a testament to mental fortitude just as much as on-court achievement.
During the pregame award presentation at Chase Center, Salaün was moved to tears. At center court, as videos with congratulatory messages from her family in France played on the jumbotron, she had a rare emotional moment. It was not as much about the actual accomplishment as a reminder of the distance.
“I’m not seeing my parents every two days, obviously,” Salaün said after a practice last week in Las Vegas. “They also know all the sacrifices — everything that I’m going through this year and that I’ve been through before, so it’s not about the award itself. It’s more like, wow, getting a little reward for all of these things.”
The moment touched Rodgers and stirred memories.
“You just know what she’s been through, you know all the sacrifice, you know all the calls home that she’s probably had, you know the teammates, the late nights, the blood, sweat, and tears that go into being able to receive that award,” Rodgers said.
Salaün, who regularly closes games in coach Natalie Nakase’s fourth-quarter lineups, didn’t start once this year. In Golden State’s inaugural 2025 season — Salaün’s rookie year — she started 33 of 36 games she played.
“It’s one of the hardest awards to win, just because you sacrifice a lot for the betterment of the team,” Rodgers said. “You also know, deep down inside, that you’re good enough to start, but because the team needs you to do something, you have to sacrifice.”
As the Valkyries have taken leaps forward in their second year to finish with the WNBA’s second-best record, post the league’s best defensive numbers, and earn home-court advantage in the Finals tipping off Saturday, Salaun’s role has shrunk slightly. Her average playing time is down roughly five minutes from last season. Her production, however, as a centerpiece in the Valkyries’ record-setting bench, was more efficient as she averaged 12.9 points per game and shot 39.2% from beyond the arc.
Salaün has excelled but doesn’t pretend the adjustment was easy. Personal cost and patience come with the territory.
“I mean, this is the story of my life,” Salaün said. “I’ve always [made] sacrifices, done the job that people don’t see. So it’s not new to me. Yes, it’s not the easiest, I’m not going to lie. But I just took the opportunity.”
Salaün started 33 of the 36 games she played as a rookie in 2025. | Source: Ali Gradischer/Getty Images
Born in Paris, Salaün has played professionally since 2019. She spent five seasons in the top French league and has competed in Italy and the Czech Republic during the WNBA offseason. When Valkyries GM Ohemaa Nyanin scouted and recruited Salaün for Golden State’s inaugural roster, she saw a player with a no-nonsense approach.
“She is business-oriented,” Nyanin told The Standard in August. “How are you going to help me better, and how can I help you get to your goals? There was no fluff.”
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For Salaün, embracing her new role has come with the benefit of having people around her who have a firsthand understanding of the tension.
Rodgers is one of those people. Her message to Salaün is simple: “It’s hard. I know it’s hard. Understand. I’m here for you. Whatever you need help with. Knowing the process is not going to be easy. It’s going to be hard, but when you look back on it, it’s going to teach you a lot of valuable lessons to help you continue to have value in this league.”
Veteran guard Tiffany Hayes is too. The 37-year-old — who probably would have been the league’s Seventh Player of the Year, if that existed — was named Sixth Player of the Year during her lone season with Las Vegas in 2024. Hayes and Salaun have developed an on-court connection that plays to their strengths and an even closer friendship off it.
“It’s just about knowing that you’re part of something bigger than yourself,” Hayes said. “If you want to win and you want to be a part of something big, sometimes you gotta take another role. That’s just about showing your character and showing the type of person and player you are.”
Tiffany Hayes and Kaitlyn Chen have been two of the Valkyries’ leading scorers off the bench this season. | Source: Heather Diehl for The Standard
That message resonates with the Valkyries from the top down for an organization that intentionally compiled selfless players. A deep rotation that leans on the “strength in numbers” mantra Nakase adopted from the Warriors allows the Valkyries to count on game-changing contributions well beyond their starting five. It’s not just Salaün; it’s Hayes, Kaitlyn Chen, Kaila Charles, and now Aminata Gueye too.
No WNBA team has won a title leaning this heavily on its bench. This year, that approach has the Valkyries four wins from a championship.
Salaün said someday she’ll look back with gratitude at leading a historic bench, but right now, she has tunnel vision on the title series against the Atlanta Dream.
“I’m just focused on winning,” she said, “trying to win a championship for this team.”