With their first-ever draft pick in 2025, the Golden State Valkyries selected a sharpshooting guard who had been standing out with ASVEL Lyon in France.
Around 18 months later, the Valkyries became surprise WNBA champions — and Juste Jocyte had little to do with it.
Jocyte, the fifth overall selection in the 2025 WNBA Draft, came to the United States before the 2026 season, and she earned her spot on the Valkyries’ eventual championship roster.
MORE: Gabby Williams recalls ‘tipping point’ that led to WNBA-altering Valkyries decision
However, Jocyte played only 8.1 minutes over 16 regular-season games, with two further appearances in the playoffs. A bit-part player on the champs, Jocyte now wants a trade this offseason, as she has revealed in an interview with media in her native Lithuania.
Juste Jocyte spoke very candidly to the Lithuanian media yesterday about her season with the Valkyries. Take her comments with a small grain of salt because a lot can be lost in google translation, but the big notes: – Jocyte’s relationship with Natalie Nakase is very clearly frayed. – Jocyte was not happy with her playing time and felt like she never got an adequate explanation as to why, describing the explanations given to her as “excuses,” and mentioning she never had a serious, official conversation with Nakase to work through it. – Jocyte has communicated to Ohemaa Nyanin and the front office that she does not want to return to the Valkyries next year. She does not want to ride the bench for another season. There’s far more in the article here (they asked Jocyte a lot of other things as well), but as of this moment, the relationship between her and GSW is not in a good place: https://t.co/h0Qf6LtL1E
— Kenzo Fukuda (@kenzofuku) November 9, 2026
Jocyte has revealed that her relationship has strained with Valkyries head coach Natalie Nakase. She claims that she never had a one-on-one conversation with Nakase about her playing time, which was limited to 129 minutes in the regular season and five more in the postseason.
Jocyte also revealed that she has asked Valkyries general manager Ohemaa Nyanin to facilitate a trade — an audacious request from the 20-year-old, but one that Golden State is likely to grant.
For the Valkyries, this is the cost of doing business and assembling a team that can contend for championships. Golden State is not focused on drafting and developing; Jocyte was not a priority for Nakase and her staff, while Nyanin dealt the eighth overall pick in the 2026 draft — Flau’jae Johnson — to the Seattle Storm.
Instead, Nyanin and owner Joe Lacob are taking a Golden State Warriors-like approach to building out the Valkyries: sacrifice future assets for shots at the apple in the now. It’s already worked once; Golden State won the title in just its second year of existence.
Jocyte will be worth a flier to a team in need of cheap, young shooting with the potential to add some playmaking to her skillset; the Las Vegas Aces spring to mind on that front. She shot 42 percent from three-point range in her limited minutes during 2026; per 100 possessions, she averaged 20.8 points and 7.1 assists.
