<\/p>\n
Golden State Valkyries guard Juste Jocyte in the fourth quarter during a game against the Connecticut Sun on May 25 at Chase Center.<\/p>\n
Santiago Mejia\/S.F. Chronicle<\/p>\n
Just\u0117 Jocyt\u0117<\/a> saw your mock trade proposals.\u00a0<\/p>\n After all, she is 20 years old. And she uses X. So, even if Jocyt\u0117 didn\u2019t want to think about the possibility of being moved by the Golden State Valkyries<\/a> ahead of Sunday\u2019s WNBA trade deadline, it was always going to cross her mind\u00a0\u2014 and her timeline.<\/p>\n \u201cI cannot just cut off all my social media, because you just see it everywhere,\u201d Jocyt\u0117, who was often at the center of Kelsey Plum trade rumors, told the Chronicle after Tuesday morning\u2019s shootaround at Chase Center. \u201cSo (whether) you want it or not, you see it. Of course you start thinking. But it\u2019s past the deadline, and I\u2019m still here.\u201d<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n What comes next for Jocyt\u0117, the 2025 No. 5 overall pick who has essentially redshirted her rookie season after spending last year overseas?\u00a0<\/p>\n For now, continued development.<\/p>\n Head coach Natalie Nakase<\/a> has maintained that Golden State is transitioning Jocyt\u0117, a 6-foot guard\/forward, into a lead ballhandler. During practices, Jocyt\u0117 plays with the Valkyries\u2019 \u201cstay ready\u201d group, the cluster of players sitting outside Golden State\u2019s 10-woman rotation. Jocyt\u0117 runs the offense in those scrimmages.\u00a0<\/p>\n Jocyt\u0117, a Lithuanian national, noted Tuesday that handling the ball comes naturally to her because she has done it overseas. She said she is most focused on improving her communication and learning to be more \u201cintense\u201d on the court. Nakase, too, said she wants to see more of that out of Jocyt\u0117, in addition to her mastering the Valkyries\u2019 playbook and getting used to the speed of the WNBA.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u201cHere, everybody\u2019s really loud, and it\u2019s not something I\u2019m used to,\u201d Jocyt\u0117 said. \u201cShe\u2019s looking for somebody that\u00a0\u2014 not saying I don\u2019t give my all, but (you) may not necessarily see (that) from the outside. So just to be intense, to give your all defensively, especially, and just be vocal, I guess. So, just need to keep developing those skills.\u201d<\/p>\n As a competitor, this season has not been easy for Jocyt\u0117. She has touched the court just nine times in 29 games for an average of 6.4 minutes. The last time Jocyt\u0117 checked into a game was July 10. She has not played more than 16 minutes in a single contest.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Jocyt\u0117\u2019s current reality is especially challenging considering her overseas successes. She made her pro debut at age 13, played in France\u2019s top women\u2019s basketball league at 14 and averaged 11.6 points and 4.4 assists with EuroLeague club Spar Girona this past season, per FIBA. She has played a major role on the Lithuanian national team since 2023.<\/p>\n \u201cYou start asking yourself questions, doubting yourself even a little bit,\u201d Jocyt\u0117 said. \u201cBut for me, it\u2019s just having the right people around me to lead me in the right direction and just comforting me when I need to and pushing me when I need to. So I\u2019ve been dealing, of course, with some thoughts and everything, but just trying to go day-by-day.\u201d<\/p>\n Jocyt\u0117 said she has leaned on her \u201cstay ready\u201d teammates and veteran guard Tiffany Hayes<\/a> for support. Hayes has been \u201cgreat, really. She\u2019s just been, like, the way she talks to me, the way she comforts me, you can see she\u2019s a real vet. So I really appreciate that.\u201d Jocyt\u0117 said Hayes\u2019 words of encouragement make her \u201cwant to keep going.\u201d<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Asked about her conversations with the Valkyries\u2019 coaching staff, Jocyt\u0117 said there were no discussions before the season of whether or not she would be in the rotation. But she acknowledged missing all of training camp due to overseas obligations likely did not help.<\/p>\n \u201cNobody necessarily tells you what your situation\u2019s gonna be, like your position or whatever,\u201d she said. \u201cSo coming here, I didn\u2019t expect\u00a0\u2014 I didn\u2019t know what to expect, let\u2019s say it like that. I came here, I know I was late. I didn\u2019t go to training camp, and the team is doing great. So I understand maybe it\u2019s a difficult decision, and they don\u2019t really know maybe where to put me or use me. But there was no communication like, \u2018No, you\u2019re not gonna play the whole season.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n The Valkyries (20-9) sit half a game behind the Las Vegas Aces for the WNBA\u2019s second-best record. Golden State has won eight of its last 10 games, reeled off a nine-game winning streak before the All-Star break and owns the league\u2019s No. 1 defensive rating.\u00a0<\/p>\n Nakase\u2019s group is well-positioned to earn home court in the playoffs. The Valkyries did not make a move at the deadline in an effort to preserve their depth and connectivity. It makes sense to not shake the rotation up, barring injury, at this point. Golden State\u2019s top two point guards, Veronica Burton<\/a> and Kaitlyn Chen,<\/a> are thriving.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n For Jocyt\u0117, that likely means her next two months will look much like the last few have.<\/p>\n \u201cI feel great (about) the team, they\u2019ve been really nice and supportive,\u201d Jocyt\u0117 said. \u201cOf course, as a basketball player, you just want to come and play. But you just have to take what was given to you and take something out of it. So that\u2019s what I\u2019m trying to do.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Golden State Valkyries guard Juste Jocyte in the fourth quarter during a game against the Connecticut Sun on…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":981023,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[49],"tags":[341701,62,67,132,68,2864,232,1707],"class_list":["post-981022","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-juste-jocyte","tag-sports","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us","tag-valkyries","tag-wnba","tag-womens-sports"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/981022","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=981022"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/981022\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/981023"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=981022"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=981022"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=981022"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/a>
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