The Golden State Valkyries have agreed to a contract with former Atlanta Dream ahead Monique Billings, securing her spot on the crew for his or her inaugural WNBA season. Billings, 28, was chosen by the Valkyries within the WNBA growth draft from the Phoenix Mercury and can now formally be a part of the roster because the franchise prepares for its debut marketing campaign.
A league supply confirmed that Billings’ deal is undisclosed, although expectations are that she is going to signal for barely above the veteran minimal. The Valkyries opted to pick Billings within the growth draft regardless of her standing as an unrestricted free agent, signaling their intent to retain her in free company slightly than choosing a participant already beneath contract from Phoenix.
Billings was enjoying in China on the time of the growth draft.
“I’m so honored to be on this new market, to be part of an growth crew,” Billings stated, as reported by Marisa Ingemi of the San Francisco Chronicle. “That’s one thing I by no means even dreamt of earlier than as even being doable. So with the ability to be sort of a pioneer with a brand new crew is nothing in need of a blessing.”
Golden State head coach Natalie Nakase praised Billings’ power and work ethic, emphasizing her worth to the crew’s enjoying model.
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“The very first thing that catches your eye about Monique is how onerous she performs,” Nakase stated. “She rebounds the ball, she will minimize to the within, she will defend the rim. She’s the sort of participant who will dive after a unfastened ball on the ground. We really feel like we are able to depend upon her.”
Billings had a whirlwind 2024 season, enjoying for each the Dallas Wings and Phoenix Mercury after being waived by the Los Angeles Sparks earlier than the beginning of the season. She averaged 7.4 factors and 5.8 rebounds throughout 37 video games, beginning 14.
She was first drafted by the Dream within the 2018 WNBA draft because the fifteenth general choose after a collegiate profession with UCLA girls’s basketball. She performed with Atlanta from 2018 till 2023.
The Valkyries’ determination to retain Billings as a substitute of pursuing a high-profile free agent caught some across the league off guard, per Ingemi. Growth groups had been permitted to pick just one unrestricted free agent, and a few anticipated Golden State to make use of the choose on a participant who might command a core designation and a supermax contract.