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On the heels of a stellar inaugural season that built up spectacular goodwill, Ohemaa Nyanin left fans in the dark Monday night. 

The Golden State Valkyries GM initially declined to explain why the team traded out of the eighth pick — relinquishing the rights to guard Flau’jae Johnson — to move back eight selections and pick up a future second-rounder. 

“I’m going to take a beat to be able to eloquently give a response,” Nyanin told reporters. “I don’t have a lot of details to share. One, because I’m exhausted. Two, because I want to be very thoughtful when I’m talking about other humans and their basketball abilities and how they would or would not show up for our squad.”

Everyone’s tired on draft night. That’s no excuse for an executive to abdicate the responsibility to help fans understand the team’s direction. Nyanin was pressed by reporters and finally offered a rationale later in the night, telling ESPN’s Kendra Andrews that the Valkyries had completed the deal before the eighth selection (opens in new tab).

It’s Nyanin’s job to guide the Valkyries toward a title by signing players, executing trades, and making draft picks. She has one of the best positions in basketball, leading a $500 million franchise with practically a unanimous approval rating for an owner who expects a championship within four years — and is willing to spend for it. 

Part of that job, whether it’s in the contract or not, is to give fans a sense of why their favorite players are or aren’t on the court in a violet jersey. That’s not unique to Nyanin or the WNBA; it applies to every pro sports executive. 

I don’t cover the Valkyries full time and wasn’t on the post-draft conference call, so I can’t in good faith evaluate the merits of the actual trade. But it’s easy to imagine Nyanin wanting to take back some of her unnecessarily evasive comments. They only compounded confusion and fueled speculation. 

The irony of Nyanin’s misstep is that she likely had a reasonable explanation. She’s a sharp basketball decision-maker and earned the benefit of the doubt by hand-picking the foundation of the first expansion team to make the playoffs in its inaugural season. 

Surely, she had good reason to flip the eighth pick for what ended up being Marta Suárez and a 2028 second-rounder. (The Valkyries also capped their night by selecting Duke guard Ashlon Jackson 23rd overall and Japanese guard Kokoro Tanaka in the third round.) 

Maybe adding a first-rounder would have hurt the Valkyries’ ability to pursue free agents or negotiate other trades. Maybe the Valkyries had Suárez higher than Johnson on their draft board anyway and figured they might as well pick up a future asset along with her. 

Instead, fans were left without clarity.

“I would just say that when I’m ready to kind of speak about what the strategy is behind it, I’ll speak on it,” Nyanin said. “I’ll also say I don’t really speak about my strategy ever publicly, because all other teams are watching to see what our strategy is.”  

If a GM has the conviction to make a transaction to improve the team, it should be easy to explain it. Nyanin didn’t need to go in-depth. She could have said practically anything about the trade, and it would have been fine. There’s an understanding that sports executives often obfuscate publicly, knowing that putting out the full truth isn’t always productive for a franchise. 

She could have spoken in generalities, saying she and the front office believe this kind of trade puts them in the best position to succeed in 2026 and beyond. She could’ve said these decisions are difficult, but the WNBA is a business, and the Valkyries have a plan to do what’s necessary to succeed. She didn’t even need to say that the roughly $40,000 in salary difference between the draft slots could come in handy; she could’ve gotten away with merely hinting at financial flexibility. 

She could have even told the truth, which is that this trade had been in the works (opens in new tab) before the draft began, and that Golden State was just picking Johnson for Seattle. That would have helped fans understand the situation. There’s some degree of natural confusion on draft night, like when an NBA pick puts on the wrong hat. 

Instead … 

“I don’t talk about [the] salary cap,” Nyanin said, “so wouldn’t be able to kind of answer the question in a way.” 

The post-draft press conference is a symptom of a larger messaging issue in the WNBA. 

Elsewhere Monday night, league Commissioner Cathy Engelbert crashed out at a rather innocuous press conference question about her desire to remain in her role from New York Post reporter Madeline Kenney, responding (opens in new tab): “I wonder whether you would ask that of a man.”

Of course, male commissioners like Adam Silver and Roger Goodell field questions about their future on the job. The people in charge of any field do. Engelbert, the first female CEO of a Big Four firm, must know that. 

Engelbert, who helped stave off a work stoppage this year, should’ve been taking a victory lap rather than playing victim. 

Rather than a night celebrating what could be a stacked draft class and growing anticipation of a saved season after successful collective bargaining negotiations, attention turned to a commissioner crying misogyny and a GM needing a REM cycle. 

The WNBA and the Valkyries have all the momentum in the world. The only thing that can get in their way is themselves.