Valkyries go international with their first draft pick

The Golden State Valkyries chose 19-year-old Lithuanian phenom Justė Jocytė with the No. 5 pick, adding to their plethora of European players

After an expansion draft where they devoted seven of their 11 picks to international players, six from Europe, the Golden State Valkyries looked to Europe again with the No. 5 pick in the WNBA draft. They picked 19-year-old Lithuanian wing Justė Jocytė, a 6-foot-2 wing who was the youngest woman to play in the modern EuroLeague.

Jocytė has played for the French team LDLC ASVEL Féminin since 2019, winning the league twice and capturing the EuroCup Women in 2023. She’s had amazing success with the Lithuanian national team, winning a silver medal in the FIBA Under-16 European tournament, despite being only 13 years old. Three years later, at age 16, she won gold at the Under-18 tournament.

Please enjoy this highlight video of Jocyte scoring 22 points in the Coupe de France quarter-finals, which is scored with haunting music.

According to The Athletic’s Sabreena Merchant, Jocytė “has the star upside an expansion team needs with her ability to run offense and shoot the ball.”

For their second pick, the Valkyries chose Shyanne Sellers, fresh off of a trip to the Elite Eight with Maryland. The 21-year-old Sellers was considered a possible first-round pick leading up to the draft, with some mock drafts predicting the Valkyries would draft her at No. 5. But Sellers was still available at No. 17, possibly due to her recurring knee problems last season.

The 6-foot-2 guard is the daughter of former Chicago Bulls big man Brad Sellers, the No. 9 pick in the 1986 NBA draft. Known her signature goggles, Sellers averaged 14.6 points, 3.9 rebounds, and 4.4 assists in her senior season and shot over 40% on three-pointers. For the third year in a row, Sellers was named first team All-Big 10, which is more impressive that it sounds because that conference now has 18 teams.

Still, getting drafted by Golden State might only be the second-most exciting thing that happened to Sellers this week. Thursday, she proposed to her girlfriend, Faith Masonius (she said yes!).

With their final selection, the Valkyries drafted Kaitlyn Chen, who recently won a national title alongside No. 1 pick Paige Bueckers at UConn. Chen did not expect to be drafted, and was only there because her entire UConn Huskies team attended in order to support Buckers. To her surprise, the Valkyries used the No. 29 pick on her, as Chen’s teammates celebrated and filmed her reaction with their phones.

A similar moment happened at last year’s draft, when Iowa’s Kate Martin went to the draft to support her teammate Caitlin Clark, and ended up getting drafted by the Las Vegas Aces. Now, Martin is on the Valkyries, alongside Chen.

Chen transferred to UConn before last season after three seasons playing for Princeton, where she was the Ivy League Player of the Year in her junior season. She won Most Outstanding Player of the Ivy League tournament three straight seasons, going on to pull off first-round upsets in March Madness in two of those years. Chen only scored 6.9 points and 3.4 assists last season, but she started all 40 games for a team with three great scorers. Her role would seemingly be backup point guard on the Valkyries, and while she only occasionally scored big for UConn, Chen put up a lot of points for Princeton.

She’s also the first Taiwanese-American player ever selected in the WNBA draft.

It was a guard-heavy haul for the Valkyries, and might put them in a bind when it’s EuroBasket time. Picking Jocyte early was balanced by taking Sellers later than expected, and all three rookies could get ample playing time in the Valkyries’ first year. The team showed unpredictability, and in selecting a 19-year-old, they sent a signal that they’re focused on long-term development, not so much the 2025 season.

People sometimes say San Francisco is a European city. At least when it comes to the Valkyries roster, it’s the truth.