The expansion draft for the Golden State Valkyries will be held on Dec. 6 and air on ESPN, the WNBA announced Monday.
The league unveiled additional details for how the expansion draft, the league's first since 2008, will work ahead of the Valkyries launching play in 2025.
Each existing WNBA team can protect a maximum of six players who will not be eligible to be drafted by Golden State. Teams will submit roster lists -- which include all players the franchise has the rights to as of the final day of the 2024 regular season -- with an expected deadline of approximately 10 days before the expansion draft. Golden State can then acquire the contract of or rights to one available player from each of the 12 teams.
If a player not under contract for 2025 is selected, the Valkyries will receive whatever rights to them the existing team would have had. Golden State can select one player who is eligible to become an unrestricted free agent, given that player has not previously been cored for two or more seasons. That player can then be cored by Golden State in January ahead of free agency.
Between the roster list deadline and the expansion draft, the Valkyries can make deals with other teams where they select a player and trade them to a different organization and agree to select (or not select) a player from a trading team's list of available players.
The league has not yet announced where the Valkyries will pick in the 2025 college draft.
Golden State hired Ohemaa Nyanin as its general manager in May and has yet to announce the team's coach.
The WNBA has also recently announced expansion franchises in Toronto and Portland, both of which will begin play in 2026.
