While the Valkyries’ road matchup vs LA may seem like just another regular season match, yet the actual makeup of the Golden State roster is going to be seeing massive changes with the presence of EuroBasket.
The biannual EuroBasket club tournament is an important event for both Olympic qualifiers and for the international players themselves. This tournament, which begins June 18th, brings concern to the depth of the Valkyries’ – whose 13 lady roster possessed 6 European players. Here is what we know so far:
– Kyara Linskens (Belgium) was waived
– Zandalasini (Italian) is currently suspended to play for EuroBasket, out today
– Fagbenle, Vanloo and Salaun are all committed for EuroBasket, but departure is unknown
Today would be the last game for the latter group anyways, as The Valkyries next game is all the way on June 14th – just 4 days before the international tournament. It is typical for players to return to their tournament teams 10 days before, so some rule outs today wouldn’t be surprising.
The issue that will face The Valks is their frontcourt depth, losing 3 of their top 4 frontcourt rotational players. Expect Billings to get a huge leap in usage once Fagbenle and Salaun are officially departed. With Hayes (nose) still out, expect the crew of Martin, Talbot and Carla Leite (French rookie not playing Euros) to see good rotational minutes.
The Sparks defense has been porous, specifically to the perimeter. LAS is surrendering the 2nd most OPP 3PA, most from ATB, while otherwise mostly struggling on Pts off TOV. Meanwhile, Nakase’s roster has led in 3PT volume, being one of just three teams to notch 30+ attempts per game. Sadly, three of the Top 4 in 3PA for this Valks team are those Europeans setting to depart. Thornton, Burton and Martin are in the mix.
Veronica Burton has completely taken reins, notching 12 assists vs Las Vegas off 21 potentials. Her success as a passer today will be dictated on if the Valkyries offense can stay hot from outside. In the three games that GSV knocked double double-digit 3PM, we saw Burton notch 6, 5 and 12 assists – her top 3 marks of the season.
Kelsey Plum is another name who has been dishing the rock. She has notched 14+ potentials in 7 of 9 LA games this season, which is remarkably consistent. Natasha Cloud is the only player to notch over 7 assists vs The Valks this season, who absolutely love to clog the paint to limit the easy assist opportunities of Pick & Roll (3rd), Rim FGA (1st) and Post Up (2nd).
27 of Plum’s 47 total assists this season have went to Hamby or Stevens. Only Odyssey Sims has received 5+ of the entire rest of the team.
Thus, Plum is most likely to thrive as a scorer here. As the Valks drop coverage + inside help has left high usage guards to thrive in points production. Golden State is in the B3 defenses vs Ball Handling Pts (10th), Spot Up shooting (11th) and Transition scoring (11th). Plum in her opening game with 37 points, is one of 4 guards to notch 20+ Points vs GSV this season.
Burton will be Plum’s defender with Zandalasini gone, which makes her rebound positioning pretty far from the basket. She has notched just 2 rebounds in both games vs Plum, with other defenders notching so:
– Jackie 1
– DiJonai 4 (2 OREB)
– Allisha 5
– Karlie 1
If LAS looks to succeed, need some big games from Rickea Jackson soon. Jackson ended the 2024 season covering her current 12.5 Pt line in 18/18 games where she saw 25+ minutes.