Valkyries traded Flau’Jae Johnson for Marta Suarez, who's now been waived
The Golden State Valkyries traded Flau'Jae Johnson during the WNBA draft for TCU's Marta Suarez. On Saturday, they waived the second-round pick.
On the night of the WNBA draft, the Golden State Valkyries made a surprising move when they traded eighth overall pick Flau’Jae Johnson of LSU to the Seattle Storm for the draft rights to Marta Suarez and a 2028 second round pick. That decision looks even more puzzling now as the Valkyries announced Saturday they had waived Suarez and a host of other players, including fellow second-round pick Ashlon Jackson. Suarez was drafted 16th overall by Seattle, while Jackson was selected with the 23rd pick.
Golden State also waived center Mariella Fasoula, guard Ndjakalenga Mwenentanda and Miela Sowah and forward Cate Reese. The only pick the Valkyries made in this season’s draft Golden State still has the rights to is Japan’s Kokoro Tanaka, who was selected in the third round but is not listed on the club’s active roster. Golden State general manager Ohemaa Nyanin said the club agreed to trade picks with Seattle ahead of the draft.
She largely dodged questions on draft night about trading Johnson. “I'm going to take a beat to be able to eloquently give a response. I don't have a lot of details to share.
” Nyanin said. “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.