The Golden State Valkyries have been rightly criticized for being an expansion team with zero of their 2025 WNBA Draft picks on the roster. Justė Jocytė stayed in Europe, while Shyanne Sellers and Kaitlyn Chen were both cut before the season began.
But that doesn't mean the team hasn't found some rookie gems. They just came to the team differently. There's Carla Leite, who the team added from Dallas in the expansion draft, and then there's Janelle Salaün.
Salaün, a 23-year-old forward from France, signed a training camp deal with the Valkyries back in February. While she missed training camp to finish her international season, Golden State was high enough on Salaün to keep her on the final roster.
So far, the team hasn't been disappointed with that decision.
Janelle Salaün looks like a key piece in Golden State
Golden State is still figuring out its identity. The team is 2-2 on the year, a surprising record considering most expected this to be one of the league's worst teams. However, there are worrying signs, like the fact that despite being .500 on the year, the team is 11th in the league in net rating.
It would behoove the Valks to focus on getting more run for their young players. This season needs to be about building for the future, finding the players who can be in Golden State three or four years down the line.
Salaün certainly looks like she could be one of those players.
Despite missing the season opener, Salaün has started all three games she's played this season as head coach Natalie Nakase has quickly realized that she has something special in the French forward.
Salaün has been a great outside shooting threat for Golden State, with her 2.7 3-pointers made per game ranking sixth in the league. She's currently shooting 47.1 percent from deep. In all, she's averaging 12.3 points, 6.0 rebounds, 1.0 assists and 1.0 steals per game.
There are still areas where Salaün needs to improve. She's taking too many midrange shots, going 2-for-11 on them and ranking last among the 17 players who've taken enough midrange shots to qualify for the leaderboard. She also ranks 110th in the league in assist-to-turnover ratio.
Salaün probably isn't going to be a player who can go out there and be the best or second-best player on a contender, but that's not what Golden State needs her to be.
What they need is to find good basketball players who can contribute. Salaün's shooting ability has a place in the WNBA, and Golden State needs to get her as many minutes as it can to see what else she can provide.
Maybe she doesn't have the star upside of rookies like Paige Bueckers and Sonia Citron, but Salaün looks like a talented role player. That the Valkyries were smart enough to bring her over from Europe despite a lack of hype compared to other French players like Dominique Malonga and Marine Johannès is a credit to this front office. Golden State hasn't done everything right when it comes to team building, but finding this undrafted rookie gem has been a very good move for the team.