Camp to open without first-round pick

VALKYRIES

Valkyries general manager Ohemaa Nyanin, left, fist bumps second-round draft pick Shyanne Sellers during a press conference on April 16. Aric Crabb / staff photographer

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By Nathan Canilao

NCANILAO@BAYAREANEWSGROUP.COM

OAKLAND — The Golden State Valkyries will open their first training camp at the team’s practice facility in Oakland today, but first-round pick Juste Jocyte will not be present.

As expected, the 19-year-old Lithuanian guard was not named on the Valkyries’ training camp roster, and her absence confirms she won’t be with the team to start the regular season.

Jocyte is expected to play for Lithuania’s national team at EuroBasket in June and could join the WNBA expansion team midseason, if she chooses. She averaged 12.7 points, 2.7 assists and 1.8 steals per game and shot 35% from the 3-point line in France’s top women’s league this past season.

The Valkyries have 18 players on their training camp roster and will need to trim that number to 12 before the team’s season opener against the Los Angeles Sparks at Chase Center on May 16.

Golden State is scheduled to play its first of two preseason games just nine days after the start of training camp.

Rookies Shyanne Sellers (drafted in the second round, 17th overall) and Kaitlyn Chen (third round, 30th overall) will be competing for roster spots in a crowded guard group that includes Carla Leite, Tiffany Hayes, Kate Martin, Veronica Burton, Migna Toure and Julie Vanloo.

Sellers and Chen have shown the ability to be high-level 3-point shooters in college and could slide in as complementary pieces should they make the team.

“I already know based on the conversations that we have had that they’re already mentally and physically preparing for this very competitive training camp,” Valkyries general manager Ohemaa Nyanin said of Sellers and Chen last week.

Fresh off winning a WNBA championship with the New York Liberty last season, forward Kayla Thornton is slated to be one of the team’s top scoring options. The nine-year veteran started 11 games for the Liberty in 2024 and shot a career-high 35.7% from the t3-point line.

Thornton, along with Monique Billings and Stephanie Talbot, headline an experienced forward unit that could be the Valkyries’ strongest position group going into the season.

Among other notable training camp absentees are Iliana Rupert and María Conde, two of the Valkyries’ picks in December’s expansion draft.

Conde’s absence was expected after she suffered an Achilles injury playing in a EuroLeague game in January. Rupert has not yet signed a contract with the Valkyries.

According to team officials, center Elissa Cunane and forward Janelle Salaün will arrive at camp at a later date after fulfilling international commitments.