Kelsey Plum donned a Phoenix Mercury jersey and took the court Monday night in Chicago, making her presence felt on her new team with 20 points and game-deciding 3-pointer.
There were many people across the WNBA who thought that might happen on Sunday in San Francisco, that the Golden State Valkyries were among the favorites to sign one of the league’s best scoring guards, the conventional wisdom being that the Valkyries need more offense to stand a championship’s chance against the likes of Minnesota and Las Vegas.
Instead, the Valkyries stood pat, and Plum ended up on a Phoenix team that might not even make the WNBA playoffs. Now Golden State sits in second place in the WNBA standings after a pair of home wins against Toronto.
Ultimately, the Valkyries have some very good reasons for taking a pass on Plum:
Putting Plum in violet was potentially a short-term add
Plum will be a free-agent this coming offseason. Her services will be in great demand. While all Valkyries fans would like to think that no one in the league would rather be anywhere but Ballhalla, there was no guarantee that Plum would make this a more permanent arrangement.
It would cost them their depth
You can’t bring the league’s best second unit off the bench if you break them up. Getting Plum wasn’t going to come cheap (a $999,000 salary and $148,400 in salary cap space is some tough math). It would have cost the Valkyries multiple key players to bring Plum into the fold. Depth is Golden State’s calling card. It is their separator from many of the other teams bound for the postseason.
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They have the team they want
The Valkryies may have one of the league’s lowest-scoring offenses in the aggregate, but most nights that is beside the point thanks to their stifling team defense.
General manager Ohemaa Nyanin and head coach Natalie Nakase have carefully and sometimes painstakingly crafted this roster to fit their identity, their ethic and their style of play. This team has built a palpable chemistry on the floor and in the locker room.
Nakase has figured out what buttons to push with her players.
And for those efforts they have a team with 21 wins, the best defense in the WNBA and the highest-producing second unit in league history.
While help in the post would certainly be beneficial and a go-to scoring option in the clutch has looked like a need in a few games, those are more nice-to-haves than need-to-haves, especially if Janelle Salaun (who has scored 45 points in the last two games) is going to stay hot.
“If we continue to ramp up our defense, our offense is easier,” Nakase said after Tuesday’s 92-81 win against Toronto. “It’s not going to happen if we don’t pay defense, unless we pressure the ball, get deflections, take a charge, just do all of the little things so it creates us into a flow of our offense.”
It’s only year two
Be patient everyone. Even owner Joe Lacob is willing to give them five years. It might be too soon for the Valkyries to give away their depth and a group of players they’ve invested in to make a title push. After making the playoffs a season ago, winning a playoff series (or two) would be a huge step forward, even if getting past Minnesota, Las Vegas, or a surging New York team isn’t in the cards. Yet, who’s to say that it’s not?
If Golden State makes a title run it will be because they have kept this team together,
added key pieces in Gabby Williams and Kiah Stokes, and cemented a culture based not on who they have, but who they are.
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Things are going pretty well just as they are
The Valkyries have won 11 of their last 13 games.
“When you have a great culture and great chemistry, you just don’t mess with it,” Nakase said before Sunday’s win over Toronto.
The word “connected” comes up a lot with Golden State. Bringing in another star can officially wait for the offseason.
“There’s something special about it. There’s a selflessness, there’s a care factor, there’s a team-before-self mentality, and I think right now where we’re at, we have that right now.”
