Golden State Valkyries Select Sky F María Conde in Expansion Draft
Chicago had only a couple players that looked a reasonable selection and the league's new team took neither--instead stashing a European standout.
The Golden State Valkyries drafted the framework for their debut WNBA roster in Friday night’s expansion draft with a number of notable names, Indiana big Temi Fagbenle perhaps most surprisingly, moving west. However, the impacts of the draft for the Chicago Sky—luckily for first year head coach Tyler Marsh— were relatively minimal. In the end, Golden State selected forward María Conde from the Sky’s pool of available players—ending the speculation that one of the Sky’s two rotational guards with team friendly deals (Allen and Banham) could be selected. Let’s dive into the key questions left behind after the former Florida State Seminole and current teammate of Isabelle Harrison in Czechia was added to the Valkyries roster.
Will Conde actually play in the WNBA in 2025?
In short, probably not. Like many European players, a huge priority for Conde during her professional career has been representing her country and comments to The Athletic’s Ben Pickman a few years ago back that up:
With EuroBasket on the way next summer (June 18th-29th), it’s hard to see the scenario where Conde chooses to take time away from (1) recovering from what figures to be another deep run in the EuroLeague with Praha and (2) preparing for a tournament where her Spanish team will look to recapture the gold medal that they won in the 2017 edition.
That said, after next year’s tournament, there’s a rare summer off in 2026 before the 2027 EuroBasket and 2028 Olympic Games. With that in mind, maybe Conde arrives in the W in time to help Golden State in their second season (or after being drafted again by either of Toronto or Portland next winter). Regardless, Conde—for as good of a player as she is overseas—was unlikely to play for Chicago in 2025 meaning there’s little loss of value in her departure.
What about trades?
Apparently, there were none. To say I’m surprised that no one in the W wanted one of the unprotected players bad enough to manufacture a trade would be an understatement, but it’s not super surprising that Chicago in particular wouldn’t make a trade. With free agency still a few months away, Jeff Pagliocca and the rest of the Sky front office are a bit in the dark when it comes to how their roster will look going into 2025—outside of the young building blocks in the front court. The majority of the players available on the list of unprotected players were always going to be some form of role player, and the Sky don’t truly know what type of role players they need to round out their roster until they see where the free agency chips fall.
If the Sky can land a big name in free agency, a veteran like Kayla Thornton might have been worth tossing some assets in for on the last year of her deal. However, it’s harder to justify giving away future assets for an expiring veteran contract if Chicago’s 2025 roster is relatively unchanged from the one that missed the playoffs in 2024. Pagliocca, Marsh and even former coach Teresa Weatherspoon have consistently communicated a message that the franchise has no plans to “rebuild,” but there has to be an internal understanding that there’s a time and a place for certain types of aggressive roster moves. The type of deal that Golden State likely would’ve wanted to make to select one of the unprotected “win-now” players for Chicago isn’t one that makes much sense in the Sky’s current context.
In 12 months when we do this again for Toronto and Portland, I’d anticipate the Sky being a lot closer to pushing their chips in—though the lack of players under contract at that time could make for a bizarre draft scenario for all involved.
What next for the Sky?
As hinted at above, free agency is the next big objective. Restricted free agent offers can be sent starting in the middle of January, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see Chicago be aggressive in getting deals done with Michaela Onyenwere and Chennedy Carter before free agency opens in full on February 1st.
Of course, there’s also a window to make trades between now and February 1st—with the big name to watch in the coming weeks being Storm G Jewell Loyd. If the Sky decide to go for Loyd, expect to see them accelerate their timeline to win and target a different category/caliber of role players in free agency as a result. For now, I wouldn’t expect a move for the Chicagoland native to come anytime soon. The Storm, despite finding themselves in a compromised position after the trade request went public, still have some leverage thanks to the year left on Loyd’s contract and will likely command considerable value as a result. If Nneka Ogwumike departs as soon as free agency opens in February, Seattle will be more inclined to rebuild in some capacity, and Loyd’s price likely falls as a result. It’s key for Pagliocca and the rest of the league’s GMs to exercise patience as this situation unfolds.
In the meantime, the Sky can keep their focus on college scouting—with two picks in April’s draft on the way after the majority of the roster is constructed via restricted and unrestricted free agency in January and February.