SAN FRANCISCO – The Golden State Valkyries selected 11 players during Friday’s WNBA expansion draft, ranging from 20-year-old French guard Carla Leite to grizzled veteran Temi Fagbenle.
None came close to creating the kind of raucous cheers of approval that Kate Martin’s name did when she was announced as the Valkyries’ pick from the Las Vegas Aces.
The Iowa alum, 24, played for Golden State coach Natalie Nakase last season with the Aces and fit the mold of a player she and Valkyries general manager Nyanin Ohemaa were looking for when trying to build an instant winner.
“There’s established vets, really good and versatile posts and really good guards,” Martin said. “Coach Nat and the front office are putting together a competitive roster like they want, and that’s what you want to be a part of.”
Nakase repeatedly said she wanted to add “competitors” to the team, which selected from a pool of players left unprotected by the other 12 WNBA teams. Each franchise was allowed to protect six players.
The Aces declined to include Martin to their protected list, and that made adding the second-year forward an easy choice for the Valkyries’ front office.
“I grew to have a very close relationship with her while I was with the Aces,” Nakase said. “She’s a very genuine person, but she’s also a culture changer.”
The Illinois native said that she had no idea she would be a Valkyrie until the day before the draft.
“The process could be a little anxiety provoking, and we have been left in the dark for a really long time,” Martin said. “I didn’t know if I would be left in Vegas, if I’d be protected or not, or coming out to San Francisco.”
Martin had made a name for herself and developed a devoted fanbase at Iowa, where she was a versatile defender and knockdown shooter next to Caitlin Clark on Hawkeye teams that reached back-to-back national title games.
She then beat the odds as a second-round pick of the then-defending WNBA champion Aces, who had established superstar A’ja Wilson, along with all-stars Kelsey Plum, Chelsea Gray and Jackie Young.
Not only did Martin make the roster but she ended up starting twice and playing in 34 games while becoming a fan favorite.
“I think that being a part of the Aces, which is already an established program who knows how to win and has won a lot of games, has served me right,” Martin said. “I am going to take that winning mindset and winning culture and bring it over to San Francisco, as will a lot of my other teammates.”
Martin says that she hasn’t put much thought into whether she will have a bigger offensive role than the one she had as a 2.6 points per game scorer who played an average of 11.5 minutes per game for Vegas a season ago.
The guard, who is also playing in the new Unrivaled 3X3 basketball league, is more focused on getting to know her new teammates while improving her own skills during the offseason.
“Being part of history is really cool, and is something I’m going to be able to talk about for the rest of my life,” Martin said. “I can tell my kids one day that I was a part of an expansion draft and the first WNBA team in San Francisco.”
