Justė Jocytė has made it plain she does not want her WNBA future to continue with the Golden State Valkyries. The 21-year-old, taken No. 5 overall in the 2025 WNBA Draft, said after the season that she would prefer to play elsewhere after what she described as a frustrating rookie year in Golden State.
The timing matters because the Valkyries are coming off a championship season, and Jocytė was supposed to be part of that next wave. Instead, she spent her first WNBA campaign largely on the margins, then told Lithuanian media she would rather move on than return to the same setup next year.
Jocytė delayed her debut until the 2026 season, when she played in 18 games for 140 WNBA minutes. Even with the team lifting the trophy in the 2026 WNBA Finals, she said the experience left her wondering why she spent practically the entire season on the bench. She said there were games the Valkyries were winning by 20 points and she still was not put in, even though she believed she should have been given minutes to help develop her physicality.
Her complaints were not only about playing time. Jocytė said it was hard to imagine going back to the same coach because communication was poor and the coach did not seem to like her very much. She framed the issue as one of growth, not just disappointment, saying the team had set high expectations for her as its first-round pick and that the response when she asked about leaving was just, “Okay.”
That exchange is the sharp edge of the story. Jocytė approached general manager Ohemaa Nyanin about finding a future outside Golden State, and Nyanin’s answer was one word. “Okay.” For a player the Valkyries once drafted with the idea she could become a shooter for them, the lack of pushback suggests the next step may be less about persuasion than about what the team decides to do with a player who no longer wants to stay.
The Valkyries won the championship despite shooting under 35 percent from the field and barely 26 percent from 3 in the seven-game Finals, but Jocytė’s comments add a different kind of aftermath. The club’s first-ever draft pick is now signaling she wants out, and the unanswered question is whether Golden State will keep her, cut ties, or find another path before the next season starts.
