{"id":14882,"date":"2025-06-26T00:30:11","date_gmt":"2025-06-26T00:30:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/14882\/"},"modified":"2025-06-26T00:30:11","modified_gmt":"2025-06-26T00:30:11","slug":"kaitlyn-chen-embracing-return-to-valkyries-hoping-to-stick-around-for-good","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/14882\/","title":{"rendered":"Kaitlyn Chen embracing return to Valkyries, hoping to stick around for good"},"content":{"rendered":"

SAN FRANCISCO \u2014 It\u2019s rare to see a rookie who was drafted in the third round be one of the most popular players on their team, but that\u2019s exactly what Valkyries guard Kaitlyn Chen<\/a> is.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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<\/a>. 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\u2019 EuroBasket departures.\u00a0<\/p>\n

She made the most of her opportunity.<\/p>\n

In Sunday\u2019s win over the Connecticut Sun<\/a>, 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 \u2018Put Chen back in,\u2019 reverberated through the arena when Chen was on the bench.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s still sort of surreal to me that so many people are so supportive and they\u2019re just great fans,\u201d Chen told the Bay Area News Group.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Chen still has an uphill battle to try and make the team as Julie Vanloo, Cecilia Zandalasini and Janelle Sala\u00fcn 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\u2019 backup point guard for the time being.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s a rookie, but she doesn\u2019t really act like it,\u201d Valkyries starting point guard Veronica Burton said of Chen. \u201cShe\u2019s a very steady individual as a player. She\u2019s a person that doesn\u2019t get too high and she doesn\u2019t get too low. I think that\u2019s really important to have when you\u2019re in this league, because it can be a lot at times. She\u2019s been doing everything we\u2019ve been asking and more.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like it sort of showed me what I needed to work on,\u201d Chen said of getting cut in training camp. \u201cSo 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"GoldenGolden State Valkyries’ Kaitlyn Chen (2) takes a shot against Connecticut Sun’s Olivia Nelson-Ododa (10) in the second quarter at the Chase Center in San Francisco, Calif., on Sunday, June 22, 2025. (Nhat V. Meyer\/Bay Area News Group)\u00a0<\/p>\n

In Sunday\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

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.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Chen even showed her toughness after she was assessed a technical foul when she gave an elbow to Connecticut Sun guard Haley Peters.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was prepared,\u201d Nakase said after Sunday\u2019s win.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Valkyries released guard Aerial Powers after center Temi F\u00e1gb\u00e9nl\u00e9 returned to Golden State after Great Britain was eliminated from the tournament on Sunday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just gonna try and give it my all and do my best every single time,\u201d Chen said. \u201cI feel like that\u2019s all I can really do. Control the controllables.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"GoldenGolden State Valkyries’ Kaitlyn Chen (2) dribbles against the Connecticut Sun in the second quarter at the Chase Center in San Francisco, Calif., on Sunday, June 22, 2025. (Nhat V. Meyer\/Bay Area News Group)\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ionescu speaks on Bay Area reunion<\/b><\/p>\n

Former Miramonte High standout and WNBA star Sabrina Ionescu is a free agent after this season.\u00a0<\/p>\n

With the Valkyries in their inaugural season and off to a hot start, there\u2019s been speculation that Ionescu could possibly return home and be the marquee star the Valkyries are looking for.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But fans shouldn\u2019t get their hopes up, at least right now.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m where my feet are at,\u201d Ionescu told the New York Post<\/a>. \u201cI\u2019m a part of a great organization here that drafted me and for me, obviously, it\u2019s where I want to be for the rest of my career.\u201d<\/p>\n

But getting the opportunity to play against the Valkyries in her home region is still something Ionescu cherishes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI 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,\u201d Ionescu said after Wednesday\u2019s shoot around. \u201cKnowing that there\u2019s 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\u2019s really what is special to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Miramonte'sMiramonte’s Sabrina Ionescu (20) drives past Bishop O’Dowd’s Myah Pace (10) during the third period of their North Coast Section Division 3 girls basketball championship game at McKeon Pavilion in Moraga, Calif., on Saturday, March 5, 2016. (Jose Carlos Fajardo\/Bay Area News Group)\u00a0<\/p>\n

Will the Valkyries sign DeWanna Bonner?<\/b><\/p>\n

The Indiana Fever released the WNBA\u2019s third all-time leading scorer DeWanna Bonner on Wednesday morning.\u00a0<\/p>\n

However, the Valkyries are not at the top of Bonner\u2019s list of potential destinations.<\/p>\n

Front Office Sports reporter Annie Costabile <\/a>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\u2019s contract.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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 \u2013 the team she spent her first 10 years with.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Bonner is engaged to Mercury forward Alyssa Thomas.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN FRANCISCO \u2014 It\u2019s rare to see a rookie who was drafted in the third round be one…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":14883,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[15172,1339,15173,276,15174,15175,2473,1362,1370,1583,15176,15177,1585,15178,15179,2750,15180,15181,15182,15183,15184,15185,15186,62,67,132,68,232],"class_list":{"0":"post-14882","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wnba","8":"tag-alameda-county","9":"tag-basketball","10":"tag-bay-area","11":"tag-california","12":"tag-contra-costa-county","13":"tag-east-bay","14":"tag-golden-state-valkyries","15":"tag-inside-sports","16":"tag-latest-headlines","17":"tag-marin-county","18":"tag-monterey-county","19":"tag-napa-county","20":"tag-north-bay","21":"tag-peninsula","22":"tag-san-benito-county","23":"tag-san-francisco","24":"tag-san-francisco-county","25":"tag-san-mateo-county","26":"tag-santa-clara-county","27":"tag-santa-cruz-county","28":"tag-solano-county","29":"tag-sonoma-county","30":"tag-south-bay","31":"tag-sports","32":"tag-united-states","33":"tag-unitedstates","34":"tag-us","35":"tag-wnba"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114746846382805374","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14882","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14882"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14882\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14883"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14882"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14882"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14882"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}