Valkyries Announce Roster Move Before Mercury Game
The Golden State Valkyries are in a crucial stage of their historic inaugural season, as the next 10 games will determine whether or not they become the first first-year expansion franchise to ever make the WNBA playoffs.
The Valkyries announced a roster update ahead of the Friday's must-win game against the Phoenix Mercury, revealing that they signed guard Kaila Charles to a contract for the rest of the season. Charles has made nine appearances for Golden State so far this season, averaging 4.2 points and 2.6 rebounds.
Charles previously made 17 appearances with the Dallas Wings this season before being waived in on June 14.
Roster Update: The Golden State Valkyries have signed @__KC5 to a rest of season contract. pic.twitter.com/s3Dwq8AR1E
— Golden State Valkyries (@valkyries) August 22, 2025
Charles was out of the league for the entire month of July but was picked up by the Valkyries on Aug. 1, signing the first of three consecutive seven-day hardship contracts that kept her on Golden State's roster through the last three weeks.
The 27-year-old Charles made a career-high seven starts for the Connecticut Sun during her rookie season and a career-high 30 appearances for the Sun as a sophomore on a team that finished the regular season as the No. 1 overall seed with a 26-6 record. Connecticut drafted Charles with the No. 23 overall pick in the 2020 WNBA Draft and parted ways with her after the 2021 season.
Kaila Charles Has Been Fighting for Her Spot in WNBA
Charles has been an inconsistent presence in the league since her time in Connecticut ended. She made just a single appearance for the Atlanta Dream in 2022 and only four for the Seattle Storm in 2023 while remaining unsigned for the entire 2024 season.
Before signing her rest of season contract for the Valkyries' final nine regular season games and prospective playoff run, Charles had already appeared in a combined 26 games this season. Friday's development means she'll almost certainly set her career mark for appearances in a single WNBA season.
In the Bay🫶🏾 pic.twitter.com/7W4UgGO649
— Kaila Charles (@__KC5) August 22, 2025
The Golden State Valkyries and Phoenix Mercury are scheduled for a 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT tip-off at the Footprint Center in Phoenix on Friday. Golden State gets the Mercury on the second leg of a back-to-back, after a blowout loss against the host Las Vegas Aces on Thursday.
Will Despart is a Las Vegas-based sportswriter who covers the WNBA for OnSI. He also writes for Ballislife and handles multiple beats for The Sporting Tribune, including the Las Vegas Aces and Las Vegas Raiders. His reporting has been featured in newspapers across the country through the Field Level Media news wire.