The Golden State Valkyries don't seem to have a great sense of what direction to take the team at this point. The team's first-round pick, Lithuanian guard Justė Jocytė, isn't expected to come over to the WNBA this summer and the second-round pick that many thought was the steal of the draft, Shyanne Sellers, has already been waived.
It seems like Golden State is prepared to play its first WNBA season with a rag-tag group of veterans.
However, while much of this roster likely lacks a future in Golden State, there is one young name that is garnering a lot of attention early on: Kaitlyn Chen.
People seem to really like Kaitlyn Chen
I'm not even talking about Chen's on-court play here. She's simply really popular right now among Valkyries fans.
If you sort jerseys in the WNBA store by "top sellers," Chen is the sixth-highest seller so far. She's behind Caitlin Clark — who actually has the top three selling jerseys and four of the top five, with only Paige Bueckers breaking up her monopoly on the top spots.
Then there's Chen's Valkyries teammate Kate Martin, who gets that Iowa bump. Then A'ja Wilson and Angel Reese, and then, after a few more repeats from Wilson and Clark, you get this:
So, what's making Chen so popular? A few things.
First, there's the UConn factor. Chen played her first three seasons at Princeton, but transferred to UConn last season. The Huskies fan base stretches wide, and UConn fans don't already have a Valkyries jersey for their favorite UConn legends since the Valkyries are an expansion team. Thus, they're grabbing Chen's jersey even though she's not really a legend nor is she a lock to make the roster.
Second, Chen is the child of Taiwanese American immigrants. The WNBA doesn't have a ton of Asian representation. The Valkyries play in the Bay Area — as of 2022, the AAPI population made up 27 percent of the Bay Area, the second-highest rate of any American metro area. In other words, there are more local fans who get a chance to see this kind of cultural representation than there would be if Chen had landed elsewhere.
Finally, there's the simple fact that Chen's a young player on an expansion team. She could still fail to make the final roster, but for now she's the only Valkyries draft pick who could be on the 2025 team. If you're a new fan looking for a young player to root for, Chen's an obvious choice, especially since she's already outlasted Sellers on the roster.
Chen hasn't really done too much on the floor yet. In the team's preseason loss to the Sparks, she was 13th on the team in minutes played, a bad sign for her chances of landing a roster spot. Still, Golden State needs to have some young talent on its roster. Right now, the only players who fit that bill are Kate Martin and Carla Leite. Add in her popularity heading into a season where Golden State's focus is more about building a foundation than it is about competing for a playoff spot and you could see why it would make sense for the team to do what it can to keep Chen around.