The WNBA will hold its first expansion draft in 16 years this December as the Golden State Valkyries start to build their team.
The draft is set for December 6, and the Valkyries will begin their season next year.
Teams can protect up to six players, meaning those players won’t be available for Golden State to select. All other players on a team’s roster can be chosen by the Valkyries.
Unrestricted free agents must be marked on a team’s list and can be either on the protected or unprotected list.
The Valkyries can only pick one player from each team and can choose players without worrying about the league’s salary cap. However, Golden State must stay under the cap when the player contract signing period starts in February.
While this expansion draft is fairly straightforward, the one next year when Toronto and Portland join could be more complicated. Many players’ contracts will expire, and a new collective bargaining agreement is expected to raise salaries.
A large number of players, who are not on rookie contracts, will become unrestricted free agents, making it harder for teams to decide who to protect.
The last expansion draft took place in 2008 when the Atlanta Dream entered the league.
The WNBA hasn’t revealed where Golden State will pick in the upcoming college draft next April. The Dream had the fourth pick in the 2008 draft before trading it.
The Valkyries have appointed Ohemaa Nyanin as their general manager and already have over 17,500 season ticket deposits.
