WNBA expansion draft: Golden State Valkyries select select 11 players for roster [Video]

SAN FRANCISCO — Once general manager Ohemaa Nyanin and her Golden State Valkyries staff had decided who to pick in the WNBA expansion draft, the first challenge became reaching each player with the news before she heard it anywhere else.

That meant considering practice times, game schedules, time zones and potential sleep times. It all seemed worthwhile on Friday night when the roster began taking shape.

The way Nyanin looks at it, they are all part of history, about to join something being built from the ground up.

“I just want these players to be happy,” Nyanin said. “I want them to understand the opportunity that they have to come and be historians. Once you get to put on that jersey and you get to sit in front of a packed Chase Center, your whole experience is going to change.”

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The Valkyries selected center Iliana Rupert from Atlanta, guards Veronica Burton of Connecticut …