Valkyries Coach Makes Request to WNBA After Players get Released
Parting ways with a player in the WNBA is always a hard process. Basketball is a tight knit sport with a much smaller roster size relative to it's Big Four cousins football, baseball and hockey. Additionally, the melding of offensive and defensive responsibilities for basketball positions means the whole team is far less segmented, and players spend more time together.
This magnifies the difficulty in making roster decisions. Unless there is a clear standout in a lack of performance, it can be argued that every player on a roster plays an integral role in team success.
This is a problem in all levels of basketball, but when faced with a comparison between the NBA and WNBA, there is a disparity that makes roster building in the women's game that much harder.
NBA teams can roster 15 players at a time, plus a maximum of three players on two-way contracts, meaning they can be sent between the NBA and the G League, its developmental affiliate. WNBA teams, on the other hand, only have a maximum of 12 roster spots at a time and have no G League equivalent to speak of, meaning no two-way contracts.
This limit on team size means WNBA franchises have much less flexibility when it comes to roster construction and often have to make even harder cuts, releasing players that can still be productive members of the squad.
Take the Golden State Valkyries, for example. Saturday night's game between the Valkyries and the Los Angeles Sparks was a homecoming for former Valkyries guard Julie Vanloo, who was waived by Golden State and later picked up by Los Angeles. Golden State head coach Natalie Nakase has spoken in the past about difficult it was to waive Vanloo, and Nakase was thrilled to see her old guard back in Ballhala.
"Just excited," Nakase said (via Kenzo Fukuda) of Clutch Points). "Obviously, we're super excited she got an opportunity quickly to land in LA. She deserves to be in this league."
Nakase went on to lament the loss of several other of her former players that the Valkyries have waived this season, and made a call to the WNBA to allow their teams more space on their rosters.
Asked Valkyries’ Natalie Nakase about Julie Vanloo’s homecoming and what she’s meant to the organization:
— Kenzo Fukuda (@kenzofuku) August 9, 2025
“Excited. Obviously we’re excited that she got an opportunity quickly in LA. She deserves to be in this league.”
Nakase once again emphasized expanding rosters. pic.twitter.com/1AEPdWUIuO
"Chloe [Bibby] got picked up by Indiana, Steph [Talbot] got picked up by New York, Mimi [Migna Touré] got picked up by Connecticut; am I proud parent that a lot of my players from training camp landed a job? Hell yeah," Nakase said. "I've said this almost every press conference really: we need more roster spots. These girls deserve roster spots."
The WNBA's roster size has remained largely unchanged since the league's inception in 1997. Teams have rostered a total of 11-13 players since that inaugural season. Now, as the WNBA experiences more growth than ever before they are setting their sights on an expansion of the league at a macro-level, with plans to expand the total number of teams to 18 by 2030.
With the league, and women's basketball as a whole, experiencing such meteoric growth, it stands to reason that giving more players per team a shot to perform could go along well with giving more teams a shot in general.
Bio: Jack Haslett is a writer and photographer covering Golden State Valkyries basketball for Sports Illustrated. Jack has previously published work with the Sporting Tribune, the Long Beach Current and DIG Magazine, covering sports, community events and news. A graduate from Long Beach State University, Jack has a passion for writing, photography and all things sports.