How does the expansion draft work ahead of Golden State Valkyries' WNBA integration? Taking a closer look

By John Ezekiel Hirro

Modified Oct 01, 2024 02:00 GMT

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The WNBA's first expansion since 2008 is now official, with the Golden State Valkyries set to join the league for the 2025 season. The Valkyries will become the WNBA’s 13th team, marking the first expansion since the Atlanta Dream joined in 2008.

On Monday, the WNBA outlined the details of how the franchise will begin operations, starting with the Golden State Valkyries expansion draft, scheduled for Friday, Dec. 6.

The team will host its home games at the Chase Center in San Francisco, with its headquarters based in Oakland.

How will the expansion draft work? Let’s take a closer look.

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How the Golden State Valkyries' WNBA expansion draft will work

The Golden State Valkyries will have the opportunity to select from a designated pool of available players provided by the current 12 teams, according to a WNBA press release.

After the conclusion of the 2024 WNBA season and before the expansion draft, each team will need to submit a roster list to the league office, which includes every player under their rights (whether they are active, suspended, on draft/reserved, core or retired lists) as of the last day of the 2024 regular season.

Each of the 12 current teams will be required to designate up to six "protected players" who will not be available for the Valkyries to choose in the expansion draft.

All other players on each team’s roster list will be up for selection by Golden State as “available expansion draft players.”

The team will be allowed to acquire the contract or negotiating rights of one player from each of the 12 teams.

If the Valkyries select a player not signed for the 2025 season, they will inherit the same negotiating rights the player's original team held prior to the expansion draft.

The Golden State Valkyries can select only one player in the expansion draft who will become an unrestricted free agent after the 2024 season. The team may choose this player as long as they haven’t played under a core player contract for two or more seasons. In January 2025, Golden State may designate this individual as their one core player.

Any unrestricted free agents not selected in the expansion draft and who are not designated as a core player by their current team will be free to sign with any team, including Golden State, once free agency opens in February 2025.

Between the submission of roster lists and a set time the day before the expansion draft, Golden State will be permitted to make trades with existing teams.

These trades could involve selecting a specific name from the list of available expansion draft players and trading them to another team or agreeing to select (or not select) a particular player from another team's list of available expansion draft players.

After the 2025 season, an expansion draft will take place to help build the rosters for the yet-to-be-named WNBA teams in Toronto and Portland, both set to debut in the 2026 season.