Why Valkyries waived Marta Suarez after drafting her following bizarre Flau'Jae Johnson trade

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Why Valkyries waived Marta Suarez after drafting her following bizarre Flau'Jae Johnson trade originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

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The Golden State Valkyries confused everyone during the WNBA Draft with a trade that ended with them not actually getting Flau'Jae Johnson and instead getting Marta Suarez.

And after all that, the Valkyries have parted ways with Suarez.

On Saturday, she was one of the players announced as being waived by Golden State.

It's been only a couple weeks since the Valkyries made her the No. 16 pick in the 2026 WNBA Draft.

The trade doesn't really have anything to do with it, in reality. It appears that deal was agreed to before the draft, and just the league's logistics led to it looking like Flau'Jae was taken by Golden State.

It's still wild to cut a player drafted 16th this soon.

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Why did Valkyries waive Marta Suarez?

The main factor here might simply be the one that impacts so many drafted players every year.

The reality is that making WNBA rosters is still next to impossible for players taken outside the first round. There's so much talent already in the league. It's really hard to break through.

The league is expanding, but it's still a lot smaller than the NBA. There are just so few roster spots for players to earn.

Suarez is a 6-foot-3 player who shot 37% from 3-point range while launching six attempts per game from deep in her final college season at TCU. That's in addition to being a good rebounder and a smart basketball player.

If anyone could make a roster, you'd think it would be her, and she may get another chance elsewhere.

This sequence of events goes down as particularly bizarre, though, and mostly just a tough break for Suarez.

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