GM Ohemaa Nyanin assesses the Valkyries’ roster heading into stretch run

Nyanin decided to stand pat with the gritty, resilient team she has rather than look for a trade that might bring yet another player on to what has been the league’s most dynamic roster this season. Even Kayla Thornton’s season-ending injury didn’t compel Nyanin to change course.

The IX Basketball, a 24/7/365 women’s basketball newsroom powered by The Next

The IX Basketball: A basketball newsroom brought to you by The IX Sports. 24/7/365 women’s basketball coverage, written, edited and photographed by our young, diverse staff and dedicated to breaking news, analysis, historical deep dives and projections about the game we love.

Nyanin spoke to The Next before Saturday night’s game about the commitment the organization has made to the players they have and the way this group of players has managed to weather constant change and yet remain competitive.

Q. You have a wider picture to look at this team that you’ve built. … Do you like where you are?

ON: I think I’ve been looking at this roster for a really long time, right? And I’m always telling myself that you have to be as flexible as possible, because in Year 1, the idea is to try to build an identity, and each of the athletes that have been a part of the boundaries thus far have helped us build that identity. And so from day to day, week to week, month to month, I think what we’re focusing on is who are the most connected to us? Who are the best athletes? What is the best that we can get out of these athletes? KT (Kayla Thornton), going down right after All-Star break is something that we didn’t plan for.

All of the athletes are super resilient. They have another reason to fight. You know, it’s now no longer just the fans to play for. It’s the fans plus KT. And that’s like a really big deal. I think we haven’t seen the best out of all of them all at the same time, and so allowing them to gel without the constant movement that I put them through during EuroBasket is something that we’ve thought about a lot. And I would say, as we look through the future, into the future, and we aren’t forgetting about this season, because we’re still playing this season, and just trying to find the balance with looking forward.

Q. Has this season been an even more dynamic situation in terms of the roster than you anticipated it might be?

ON: I think it has felt more dynamic externally than it has internally, because what we told every athlete coming in was, “Make it hard for us, make it hard for us to make the decision one way or the other.” We were very upfront and honest about what their roles could be should they sign with us. We’ve tried to make it a competitive environment that still is thinking about the human part of it as well.

“Becoming Caitlin Clark” is out now!

Howard Megdal’s newest book is here! “Becoming Caitlin Clark: The Unknown Origin Story of a Modern Basketball Superstar” captures both the historic nature of Clark’s rise and the critical context over the previous century that helped make it possible, including interviews with Clark, Lisa Bluder (who also wrote the foreword), C. Vivian Stringer, Jan Jensen, Molly Kazmer and many others.

Buy it now!

Q. You and [head coach] Natalie [Nakase] have talked about connectedness. What connects the players?

ON: A lot of things. I think drive, the collective drive it takes to be an entrepreneur. There’s something to be said about not allowing yourself to be satisfied with just doing more than what you thought you could do, right? I think something else that connects them is their collective will to want to put on for the Bay Area. The fans, I think, have been the number one surprise to everybody within the ecosystem, and that genuine love has brought us more together.

I would also say that the athletes really respect Coach Natalie. She is somebody who demands excellence on a daily basis, and they don’t want to let her down. And I think that connectedness is built around going to battle every day for your leader.

Q. The resilience your players have shown while you’ve had injuries and players coming in and out, when you’re getting players to build a team, how do you measure resilience? And how did you know that you had a group of players that would be able to roll the way they’ve rolled in all the ways you’ve asked them to do it?

ON: It’s a great question. I think a lot of it has to do with who they are as individuals. We did a lot of research as to who they were off the court, what they value, what they value in teammates and what they value in an organization.

And a lot of themes, recurring themes, came up that then made it make sense. You know, even signing Kaila Charles, we saw how hard she worked on all the teams that she’s been a part of and didn’t allow for whatever circumstance to get in her way. She would just go really hard for whatever name is across her chest, and she’s been able to do that with us. So there’s a grit that comes that is universal. Without giving any of our secrets away, we did a lot of research on who these people were. And we’re not surprised.