Janelle Salaün made WNBA history on July 29, and it came with a loss attached. The Golden State Valkyries forward hit her 69th 3-pointer of the season with 2:26 left in the third quarter, breaking the league record for most 3-pointers made by a reserve player, but Golden State still fell 91-89 to the Phoenix Mercury.
The shot came after Salaün caught a pass from Kaitlyn Chen and buried it from deep, the kind of bench production that has helped make her one of Golden State's most reliable scoring threats. For a team that sits 19-9 and third in the league standings, the record is another sign of how much the Valkyries have leaned on her shooting during their inaugural season.
The number itself shows how far past the old mark Salaün has pushed the standard. A reserve-player record is not a single-game flourish; it is the season-long total for a player who starts from the bench, which means every make adds to the same running ledger. Her 69th shot put her above the previous high and gave the Valkyries a milestone that now belongs to one of their most efficient role players.
That achievement lands differently because it arrived inside a game Golden State believed it could win. The Valkyries had been rolling before their nine-game winning streak was snapped by the Washington Mystics right before the All-Star break, and the loss to Phoenix left a clean statistical line for Salaün but not a result to match it. She also entered the week after competing in the WNBA All-Star 3-Point contest on July 24, where she finished with 19 points in the first round before Azzi Fudd won the event.
Salaün's record is a benchmark for bench scoring, but it also underlines the balance Golden State is trying to strike as it pushes through a strong season. The Valkyries have championship ambitions, Gabby Williams has said, and the Bay Area gives her the best chance to win her first title. For now, though, Salaün's 69th 3-pointer stands as the kind of individual mark that can outlast a box score, even when the final score says 91-89 the other way.
