SAN FRANCISCO — It’s rare to see a rookie who was drafted in the third round be one of the most popular players on their team, but that’s exactly what Valkyries guard Kaitlyn Chen is.
The former UConn star, who helped the Huskies win a national championship in April, has been a fan favorite in her short time with the Valkyries. Chen was released two days before the start of the season and was re-signed last week to fill the void left by the Valkyries’ EuroBasket departures.
She made the most of her opportunity.
In Sunday’s win over the Connecticut Sun, Chen recorded just five points in 21 minutes of play. But with each moment she delivered, the 5-foot-9 point guard had the sold out crowd cheering her name. Chants of ‘Put Chen back in,’ reverberated through the arena when Chen was on the bench.
“It’s still sort of surreal to me that so many people are so supportive and they’re just great fans,” Chen told the Bay Area News Group.
Chen still has an uphill battle to try and make the team as Julie Vanloo, Cecilia Zandalasini and Janelle Salaün are set to return from EuroBasket duties. But with rookie point guard Carla Leite dealing with a back injury, Chen will have the opportunity to fill the void as the Valkyries’ backup point guard for the time being.
“She’s a rookie, but she doesn’t really act like it,” Valkyries starting point guard Veronica Burton said of Chen. “She’s a very steady individual as a player. She’s a person that doesn’t get too high and she doesn’t get too low. I think that’s really important to have when you’re in this league, because it can be a lot at times. She’s been doing everything we’ve been asking and more.”
After Chen was waived by the team on May 14, she was able to go back in the lab and reset. Valkyries coach Natalie Nakase said the team advised the players that were released in training camp to stay ready for this exact moment when the team was going to lose a handful of players to EuroBasket.
Chen signed a professional contract with the 3XBA, a professional 3-on-3 basketball association. She continued to work on her jump shot and spent time in the weight room in preparation for another professional opportunity.
When Vanloo announced her temporary departure from the Valkyries, Golden State became short on guards on the depth chart. With Chen already knowing the system from the three weeks of training camp practice she had, it was a seamless transition for the scrappy facilitator.
“I feel like it sort of showed me what I needed to work on,” Chen said of getting cut in training camp. “So I was able to sort of take time to take everything in when I was home. Then refocus and reset and work on what I sort of got a feel of during training camp and in the preseason.”
In Sunday’s win over Connecticut, Chen showed she could be a high-IQ point guard who can take of the ball and hit shots when she needs to.
She scored her first-career basket on a floater that drew a big roar from the Valkyries fans. Later in the game, she stopped on a dime and let a defender fly by as she converted a transition layup.
Chen even showed her toughness after she was assessed a technical foul when she gave an elbow to Connecticut Sun guard Haley Peters.
“She was prepared,” Nakase said after Sunday’s win.
Nakase, though, realizes that the Valkyries will have to make some tough decisions in the next few weeks. With presumably three players coming back to the Valkyries, the likes of Chen, Chloe Bibby, Laeticia Amihere and Bree Hall will all be fighting to stay on the team.
The Valkyries released guard Aerial Powers after center Temi Fágbénlé returned to Golden State after Great Britain was eliminated from the tournament on Sunday.
For Chen, giving the max amount of effort will be her focus for the next few games as she tries to remain on the Valkyries for the rest of the year.
“I’m just gonna try and give it my all and do my best every single time,” Chen said. “I feel like that’s all I can really do. Control the controllables.”
Ionescu speaks on Bay Area reunion
Former Miramonte High standout and WNBA star Sabrina Ionescu is a free agent after this season.
With the Valkyries in their inaugural season and off to a hot start, there’s been speculation that Ionescu could possibly return home and be the marquee star the Valkyries are looking for.
But fans shouldn’t get their hopes up, at least right now.
“I’m where my feet are at,” Ionescu told the New York Post. “I’m a part of a great organization here that drafted me and for me, obviously, it’s where I want to be for the rest of my career.”
But getting the opportunity to play against the Valkyries in her home region is still something Ionescu cherishes.
“I was a little kid rooting on the Warriors, not here in Chase center, but at Oracle Arena, and I just remember what that did for me and how that inspired me to want to be the best basketball player I could be,” Ionescu said after Wednesday’s shoot around. “Knowing that there’s going to be kids in this arena that are sitting in seats just like I did, and knowing that as a Bay Area native, I hopefully can inspire them to want to dream of playing in the WNBA. I think that’s really what is special to me.”
Will the Valkyries sign DeWanna Bonner?
The Indiana Fever released the WNBA’s third all-time leading scorer DeWanna Bonner on Wednesday morning.
However, the Valkyries are not at the top of Bonner’s list of potential destinations.
Front Office Sports reporter Annie Costabile reported that the Valkyries and the Washington Mystics are the only two teams in the league that have enough cap space to absorb the $200,000 cap hit that comes with Bonner’s contract.
But according to the report, teams have been advised not to pick up Bonner off waivers because her preference is to play for the Phoenix Mercury – the team she spent her first 10 years with.
Bonner is engaged to Mercury forward Alyssa Thomas.