On Wednesday night, the Cinderella season for the Golden State Valkyries came to an end as the team lost Game 2 of its first-round series against the Minnesota Lynx. Golden State became the first expansion team to make the playoffs this season, but suffered a quick two-game exit against the No. 1 seed, and unfortunately, had to do so away from its usual home arena of Chase Center due to scheduling issues.
The Valkyries now head into a strange offseason. Just two players on the current roster — Carla Leite and Kate Martin — are under contract, plus the team has the draft rights to Justė Jocytė still. Golden State could look much, much different in 2026. There are some players who the team will need to do whatever it can to retain, but plenty whose time with the team is over.
Here's my prediction for which current Golden State Valkyries players won't be back for the 2026 WNBA season.
Tiffany Hayes
Let's start with the biggest name here. Golden State brought Tiffany Hayes in this offseason to serve as the team's lead scorer. She played in 26 games and averaged 11.7 points per game.
I think it's very possible that the Valkyries want Hayes back, but I'm just not sure how likely it is, considering Hayes has already retired from the WNBA once, back in 2023. She unretired in 2024 to join the Aces, then stuck around this year with Golden State, but how much longer can we expect to see her in the league?
It's not a guarantee that she re-retires. Hayes will be 35 years old next season, which is "old" as far as basketball goes, but that doesn't necessarily mean she won't be willing to suit up for another season. Still, with Hayes missing the postseason this year with a knee injury, we can't rule out retirement.
Monique Billings
Count me among the wide group of people who didn't understand what was going on between the Valkyries and Monique Billings. The team took her in the expansion draft and paid her the third-most money of anyone on this roster, making her one of just two players on protected deals.
Billings then went on to play just over three minutes in Game 1 of this series before the Valkyries decided to give her run in the second game, with Billings scoring 15 points in 25 minutes.
The Valkyries overpaid for Billings, but then went on to play her like they hadn't overpaid her. She played just 18.2 minutes per game despite being one of the team's most efficient scorers. Billings still belongs in this league, but it's tough to imagine that future is with Golden State.
Kate Martin
While Kate Martin is under contract next season, she just feels like someone that one of the two expansion teams will take a bet on in the expansion draft. She's young. She comes with a built-in fanbase. There are encouraging things about her game that a new team could convince itself is worth fostering.
And considering how little she was playing at the end of the year, Golden State won't have much reason to protect her.
Martin is theoretically a good shooter, though an increase in 3-point attempts this year led to a worrisome drop off in 3-point field goal percentage, down from 35.5 percent last year to 31.0 percent this season. Thankfully, she finished much better inside the paint in 2025, offsetting some of those concerns.
There's also the fact that Martin has never lost to Caitlin Clark. Maybe someone needs to go out and get her just to stop the Fever. (This is a joke. I think the "Martin has never lost to Clark" stuff is just a weird coincidence. Please don't plan your roster moves around that.)
Kaitlyn Chen
A fan favorite during the preseason, Kaitlyn Chen played sparingly down the stretch for Golden State and only saw action in one of the team's two playoff contests.
Chen, a third-round pick out of UConn, was a good story, but nothing about her performance during the season says that Golden State should go out of its way to bring her back in free agency. Chen ranked 104th in the league in field goal percentage and simply didn't contribute a ton. Per PBP Stats, the team had a net rating of plus-3.1 with Chen off the floor, but that number dropped to minus-4.4 when she was on the floor.
Maybe you bring Chen back in on a training camp deal, but if the Valkyries have her on their opening day roster in 2026, then something has gone wrong this offseason.