{"id":6157,"date":"2026-08-02T23:38:00","date_gmt":"2026-08-02T23:38:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=6157"},"modified":"2026-08-02T23:38:00","modified_gmt":"2026-08-02T23:38:00","slug":"valkyries-stand-pat-at-wnba-trade-deadline-express-confidence-in-current-group-dont-mess-with-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=6157","title":{"rendered":"Valkyries stand pat at WNBA trade deadline, express confidence in current group: ‘Don’t mess with it’"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n

SAN FRANCISCO \u2014 The WNBA trade deadline was an active one for Golden State, deal or no deal.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Read more New San Mateo cafe serves country flair and iced doughnut-muffin pastries<\/a><\/p>\n

Ultimately, it was one defined by internal confidence and inaction amid the intrigue of moves that could have been made but were not.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Valkyries were at the center of trade rumors for about a week leading up to the actual deadline at noon on Sunday, most of them centered around Los Angeles Sparks guard Kelsey Plum.<\/span><\/p>\n

But the expansion Toronto Tempo visit Chase Center on Sunday evening, and Plum will not be suiting up for the Valks.<\/span><\/p>\n

Golden State took a hard look at its roster and determined that it was comfortable competing for a championship with the current group.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you have a great culture and great chemistry, you just don\u2019t mess with it,\u201d coach Natalie Nakase said. \u201cIt\u2019s something that\u2019s very rare in sports.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sure you guys have felt that with teams that you\u2019ve seen win and have gone on to become dynasties, right? There\u2019s something special about it. There\u2019s a selflessness, there\u2019s a care factor, there\u2019s team before self mentality, and I think right now where we\u2019re at, we have that right now.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Instead, Plum is joining the Phoenix Mercury, who acquired her late Saturday night for second-year guard Monique Akoa Makani, a 2027 first-round pick and a 2028 second-round pick.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

Toronto coach Sandy Brondello has won two championships across 27 years coaching in the WNBA. She said she sees championship characteristics in Golden State\u2019s unchanged group and wasn\u2019t surprised they didn\u2019t make a move.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhy not?\u201d Brondello said. \u201cWinning a championship is really hard. Been in this league for so long, and I\u2019ve won two. But I think they have the depth. You have good health. That certainly helps.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cGoing into the playoffs, you need a little bit of luck, and you just have to be playing your best basketball at the right time. There\u2019s a lot of great teams playing well at the moment. Obviously the Minnesota Lynx are ahead of them, but their style is a little bit different. They\u2019re very gritty and a defensive team. So it\u2019s going to be interesting how the season ends.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Plum\u2019s trade to Phoenix concluded a saga that included reports on Thursday that Golden State was hesitant to part with rotation players in exchange for the 31-year-old Sparks star and Southern California native.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

On Saturday, it was reported that the New York Liberty were also looking to trade for Plum, who will be a free agent after the season. Ultimately, it was Phoenix, a team largely off the league\u2019s radar, that surrendered assets and made the deal.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Valkyries were also up against the salary cap, with only $148,440 in space available \u2013 about half the cost of a minimum contract. So any move would have required exchanging a similar amount of contract money to remain below the cap.<\/span><\/p>\n

Read more Four seats on Midpen open space district board up for election in November<\/a><\/p>\n

Plum\u2019s cap hold is $999,999.<\/span><\/p>\n

That likely meant losing multiple key contributors to make the math work. Ultimately, it was a cost Golden State wasn\u2019t willing to pay for a player who could be only a midseason rental.<\/span><\/p>\n

Plum was expected to return to the court Sunday after being sidelined since June 21 because of a lower left leg injury. Before the injury, Plum was averaging 23.9 points and 6.4 assists per game.<\/span><\/p>\n

With the Valkyries, Plum was under consideration to elevate an offense that ranks near the bottom of the league in scoring.<\/span><\/p>\n

She is also familiar with Golden State coach Natalie Nakase, who was on Becky Hammon\u2019s coaching staff in Las Vegas when the All-Star helped the Aces win back-to-back titles in 2022 and \u201823.<\/span><\/p>\n

Plum was dealt to the Sparks before last season after requesting a trade from the Aces. She later said she felt \u201cunderappreciated\u201d on Vegas\u2019 super team featuring fellow All-Stars Chelsea Gray, Jackie Young and multi-time MVP A\u2019ja Wilson.<\/span><\/p>\n

It has been an open question since the end of last season if the Valkyries need a player like Plum to win the championship. They signed Gabby Williams, who developed into the second-year franchise\u2019s first All-Star starter, in free agency but did not land a marquee established superstar like Plum or Bay Area native Sabrina Ionescu.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

On Wednesday, with Williams sidelined, Golden State held a 13-point lead late in the third quarter but cooled off down the stretch as Phoenix won 91-89.<\/span><\/p>\n

It mirrored their performance in Game 3 of the WNBA playoffs opening round against Minnesota last season, when the Valkyries held multiple large leads but could not put the game away late and were eliminated via sweep in San Jose.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Now in third place in the WNBA and chasing the Lynx for the top seed, Golden State will see if its current roster makeup is enough to compete at the highest level.<\/span><\/p>\n

It was a quiet trade deadline across the league overall, with high-profile players like Napheesa Collier, Arike Ogunbowale and Alanna Smith not leaving their teams despite persistent rumors.<\/span><\/p>\n

Golden State has now gone through its first two trade deadlines without making a move.<\/span><\/p>\n

Subscribe to our special Valkyries newsletter for game analysis, scores, and everything you want to know about the team from Ballhalla.<\/p>\n

Read more Israel says it has serious concerns with Hamas disarmament deal<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Golden State Valkyries opted against acquiring Kelsey Plum or any other player at the deadline to complement their third-place group<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6156,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6157","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"yoast_head":"\nValkyries stand pat at WNBA trade deadline, express confidence in current group: ‘Don’t mess with it’ - Next City Digest<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=6157\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Valkyries stand pat at WNBA trade deadline, express confidence in current group: ‘Don’t mess with it’ - Next City Digest\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Golden State Valkyries opted against acquiring Kelsey Plum or any other player at the deadline to complement their third-place group\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=6157\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Next City Digest\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-08-02T23:38:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=6157#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=6157\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/13065d40d633843429ac57d4e5c06f9b\"},\"headline\":\"Valkyries stand pat at WNBA trade deadline, express confidence in current group: ‘Don’t mess with it’\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-08-02T23:38:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=6157\"},\"wordCount\":932,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=6157#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/b89cb3af189c2bfdf9ad24b7385ab849-scaled.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"Sports\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=6157#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=6157\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=6157\",\"name\":\"Valkyries stand pat at WNBA trade deadline, express confidence in current group: ‘Don’t mess with it’ - Next City Digest\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=6157#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=6157#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/b89cb3af189c2bfdf9ad24b7385ab849-scaled.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-08-02T23:38:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/13065d40d633843429ac57d4e5c06f9b\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=6157#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=6157\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=6157#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/b89cb3af189c2bfdf9ad24b7385ab849-scaled.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/b89cb3af189c2bfdf9ad24b7385ab849-scaled.webp\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1876},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=6157#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Valkyries stand pat at WNBA trade deadline, express confidence in current group: ‘Don’t mess with it’\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Next City Digest\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/13065d40d633843429ac57d4e5c06f9b\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Valkyries stand pat at WNBA trade deadline, express confidence in current group: ‘Don’t mess with it’ - Next City Digest","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=6157","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Valkyries stand pat at WNBA trade deadline, express confidence in current group: ‘Don’t mess with it’ - Next City Digest","og_description":"The Golden State Valkyries opted against acquiring Kelsey Plum or any other player at the deadline to complement their third-place group","og_url":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=6157","og_site_name":"Next City Digest","article_published_time":"2026-08-02T23:38:00+00:00","author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=6157#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=6157"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/#\/schema\/person\/13065d40d633843429ac57d4e5c06f9b"},"headline":"Valkyries stand pat at WNBA trade deadline, express confidence in current group: ‘Don’t mess with it’","datePublished":"2026-08-02T23:38:00+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=6157"},"wordCount":932,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=6157#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/b89cb3af189c2bfdf9ad24b7385ab849-scaled.webp","articleSection":["Sports"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=6157#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=6157","url":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=6157","name":"Valkyries stand pat at WNBA trade deadline, express confidence in current group: ‘Don’t mess with it’ - Next City Digest","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=6157#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=6157#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/b89cb3af189c2bfdf9ad24b7385ab849-scaled.webp","datePublished":"2026-08-02T23:38:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/#\/schema\/person\/13065d40d633843429ac57d4e5c06f9b"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=6157#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=6157"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=6157#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/b89cb3af189c2bfdf9ad24b7385ab849-scaled.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/b89cb3af189c2bfdf9ad24b7385ab849-scaled.webp","width":2560,"height":1876},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=6157#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Valkyries stand pat at WNBA trade deadline, express confidence in current group: ‘Don’t mess with it’"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/","name":"Next City Digest","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/#\/schema\/person\/13065d40d633843429ac57d4e5c06f9b","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/nextcitydigest.com"],"url":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6157","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6157"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6157\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6156"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6157"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6157"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6157"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}