What an inaugural season it was for the Golden State Valkyries, surprising everyone by making the WNBA Playoffs and finishing .500 in the standings. This year, they have another tall task ahead of them and Marisa Ingemi, who covers the Valkyries for her independent publication Valkyries Beat, joined Bleav in the W, to project what they can do this year.

The big focus is that Golden State brought nearly everyone back from last season's squad, including a healthy Kayla Thornton. Is the defense going to be good enough to make up for the talent gap, like it was last year? Then there's a deep discussion in the Flau'Jae Johnson draft pick trade and why the Valkyries HAD to trade the pick to make the cap space all work out. We wrap things up with a discussion on how Marisa thought this could be a breakout season for Kate Martin, who was waived following the recording of this podcast.

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Marisa's story on Kate Martin: https://www.valkyriesbeat.com/p/valkyries-insider-is-this-kate-martin-s-breakout-season

Follow Marisa on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/mingemi.bsky.social

Follow Tyler on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/thetylerbyrum.bsky.social

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