Game 12 wrap: Valks go up big then barely hang on vs Phoenix, behind 25 from Veronica and Gabby - live game notes - advanced stats - modeling a bowling ball rolling through bbq chicken - estimating Ja’s irresponsibility buff

Juste Jocyte interviewed by Conrado Pascual at the recent meet and greet!

Nadia Fingall’s first scrum after her first Valkyries practice today nitter.net/kenzofuku...

New Valkyries center Nadia Fingall: * 27 yo 6-4, playing at high level in Spain * 0.3 BLK/G (comp: Awa Fam 0.5 B/G same league) * 5.4 REB/G (Awa 4.9) * ~31% 3P, ~60% FT (bad sign for improving her 3P%) * (Stanford career: 33% 3P, 60% FT) * high volume (most 3s on Zaragoza!!)

Valkyries announce they have waived Ndjakalenga Mwenentanda and signed center Nadia Fingall to a rest-of-season contract. Fingall played for Casademont Zaragoza in Spain and is a Stanford alum

Game 9 wrap: Valkyries blow out Portland Fire, set team record for threes, contain returning Carla - live game notes - advanced stats - on GSV's constantly changing pick and roll defense, plus the new world struggles to be born, now is the time of monsters

Same starting lineup as last game for the #Valkyries against the #Fire: F - #5 Kayla Thornton F - #1 Gabby Williams C - #41 Kiah Stokes G - #24 Cecilia Zandalasini G - #22 Veronica Burton

new on rough notes - have i gone *too* far?!?!? (or are we just getting started, weeee):

Per Kenzo Fukuda, Veronica Burton did participate in shootaround for the Valks today

Part two of this week's look around the WNBA continues with discussions of perimeter defense (Jordin Canada, Ariel Atkins, Caitlin Clark), shot selection (Megan Gustafson, Alyssa Thomas, Natasha Cloud), and more. riseofthevalkyries.substack.com/p/monday-mor...

Bet the over on Carla Leite points?

KORNET ERASED THAT LIKE IT WAS MAGIC CITY NIGHT

Some analysis on the #Valkyries win last night. Veronica Burton had a career-night, outdueling Fever star Caitlin Clark. Janelle Salaün had a bounce-back game. Plus, more as GSV notched its best win of the season: www.mercurynews.com/2026/05/28/v...

substack.com/@josiahcohen... The video’s too large to upload here, but instead of linking to The Bad Place, I’ll link to this note with my video identifying the New York Liberty’s signals for man-to-man and zone defense, the latter of which they play at the highest rate in the whole WNBA.

Game 7 wrap: Valkyries win a thriller in feisty instant rematch with IND; Burton pours in 25, Williams and Salaun have 19, Clark held to 16; Always Close Enough To Hurt™ - advanced box scores - live game notes - the urgent need to hire a Cha Cha Slide exorcist

On pronunciation of Jocyte. I asked someone who then asked Juste’s dad(!!) who then, instead of choosing between yo-CHEE-teh and yo-TEE-teh, simply sent a audio clip. So instead I’ll say you can hear Juste pronounce her own name at 0:30 of this video:

Deep dive into Veronica Burton's minutes against the Sun and what that tells us about her game—how it has evolved, might evolve, and what she does for the Valkyries right now (hint: a lot). A couple cool stats in there too, hand-tracked and otherwise. riseofthevalkyries.substack.com/p/20-minutes...

Great read on Valkyries president Jess Smith in @sfstandard.com: “She doesn’t lie, she does not bullshit. She doesn’t take credit for it either, even though she’s the visionary and driving everything.” sfstandard.com/2026/05/26/w...

Game 6 wrap: Valkyries take care of business and blow out Sun; Jocyte and Prechtel make brief but splashy debut - live game notes - advanced stats - and the moral imperative to run plays for deep bench players

Post-game Gabby: (On court) She’s never smiled so much playing ball. (Press conference) She says she’s been Juste’s biggest fan and promoter for years [they were teammates at ASVEL] and we’ve only seen a glimpse of what she’s capable of.

Cecilia Zandalasini described her "scary" concussion and joy in being back at shootaround on Monday www.valkyriesbeat.com/p/valkyries-...

You won’t BELIEVE what this WNBA media member said about Caitlin Clark HATE and CONSPIRACIES www.theringer.com/2026/05/25/w...

NEW POST: With Juste Jocyte and Cecilia Zandalasini back at practice, the Valkyries are finally at full strength. www.valkyriesbeat.com/p/valkyries-...

Game 4 wrap: Valkyrie swarming defense too much for NYL... - advanced stats - game notes - on inconceivable shots, cattywampus schemes, and optimizing micro-revenge

The #Valkyries have signed Ashten Prechtel to a developmental contract, the team announced. Prechtel will now take up the second developmental spot GSV had left. Miela Sowah occupies the other.

NEW: WNBA fans seems to really hate AI but that hasn’t stopped the league & players from partnering with AI companies. Or, the “girlbossification” of AI reaches the WNBA:

I wrote about Miela Sowah's unique shot, with input from Natalie Nakase and Kara Lawson | @valkyriesbeat.bsky.social www.valkyriesbeat.com/p/valkyries-...

A short update on Juste. Source tells me - Juste Jocyte had complications around negotiating her release from European duties - This delayed her timetable. - Resolved as of Wed May 20 so she is clear to work out with team. - She is traveling to join team on road trip.

Quoted in here about how scary the media game was haha www.mercurynews.com/2026/05/19/v...

Death, taxes and WNBA officiating issues. While the league is not new to complaints about officials, a fresh approach was taken this offseason to improve performance. The result? More fouls called & longer games. www.nytimes.com/athletic/728...

What's next for Most Improved Veronica Burton? From @matthew-walter96.bsky.social www.theixsports.com/the-ix-baske...

Haha Natalie will never let us live it down

Veronica Burton didn’t practice today because she has a cold. Tip Hayes and Ceci Zandalasini are here getting treatment but still not cleared yet it seems like

Marisa Ingemi drops this bombshell at sfstandard.com about Stanford WBB on “the exodus of two-thirds of the 15-woman roster” with allegations “that Paye has fostered a dysfunctional and toxic environment, in which coaches intimidate and threaten players”…

RT @anthonyVslater: The Warriors are losing their top two assistant coaches. Terry Stotts and Jerry Stackhouse are departing the franchise, sources told ESPN. Their contracts expired and both are interested in pursuing head coaching opportunities. Full details here

Spent the morning reading this. Glad I did. There will be many screenshots. But read the whole thing. www.espn.com/nba/story/_/...

Game 3 wrap: What’s colder than cold? Ice cold Valks can’t overcome Rickea Jackson and wave of Chicago Sky bigs - advanced stats - game notes - mud, constipation and other metaphors for the offense - and the hermeneutics of What a Dagger

Some halftime reading for you, Valkyries fans. In Kaila Charles' first five years of her career, she was waived five separate times. However, her play with Golden State last year got her something she coveted more than anything else: a guarantee. #WNBA #Valkyries

#ballhalla baby

#Valkyries coach Natalie Nakase on what the Sky did defensively that led to GSV’s struggles on offense. Said tonight’s loss was on her. “This is on me of when I need to rest them, and then when I need to push them in practice … and sometimes I get too excited.”

yuck!

Broke down how one small principle of the Valkyries' scheme has contributed flow and character to the WNBA's best offense, how Gabby Williams took over the "most fun game [she's] ever played," and more on 3PT shooting: riseofthevalkyries.substack.com/p/how-golden...

Noooooooo

More video from Juste Jocyte: “Moving on to a new chapter, cannot wait to be in the Bay Area. I know we have a lot to accomplish, year two for the franchise. Year one was really great but I know we can do even better this year.”

Some interesting nuggets out of today's #Valkyries practice. Most notably Ashten Prechtel's return to the Bay, an update on Justė Jocytė and more. Read about it here: www.mercurynews.com/2026/05/12/f...

Bravery. To come out as the first openly gay player in NBA history takes a galaxy full of bravery. Bravery. To battle brain cancer until the end is the sort of bravery that makes me cower just to consider. Bravery Bravery Bravery. That’s the Jason Collins story and that’s how I’ll remember him.

Juste Jocyte appears to have released a video: "Hello Bay Area, I just wanted to let you know that I'm doing great. My ankle is healing up quickly. And also wanted to say that since my season is over, I will be seeing you all pretty soon. Cannot wait and I'm really excited.

i'm so sad and heartbroken condolences to all affected, take care of each other

Should we call this fanalytics