Dawn Staley controversially calls out WNBA reporter over Kate Martin post

TL;DR

Dawn Staley criticized a WNBA reporter for mentioning other players in a post about Kate Martin's roster cut from the Golden State Valkyries. Staley's comments sparked backlash on social media, with many defending the reporter's impartial coverage.

Key points

Dawn Staley criticized a reporter for mentioning other players.
Kate Martin was cut from the Golden State Valkyries roster.
Staley's comments sparked backlash on social media.
Kaitlyn Chen and Laeticia Amihere made the Valkyries roster.

Dawn StaleyKate MartinKaitlyn ChenLaeticia Amihere

Credit: imagn images The 2026 WNBA season is almost upon us and even though the league is expanding rapidly, there are still familiar names among final roster cuts. One of those is former Iowa star Kate Martin. But a post about her fate with the Golden State Valkyries drew a surprising backlash from none other than South Carolina Gamecocks head coach Dawn Staley. Martin has been a popular WNBA player in her time in the pros, carrying plenty of name recognition that comes with being on the successful Iowa teams with Caitlin Clark. But she was able to carve out a role both with the Las Vegas Aces and Golden State Valkyries. However, she was the final cut from the Valkyries this season. And as laid out in a post from Matt Lively of CBS affiliate KPIX in the Bay Area, it was an agonizing call given three players were fighting for two spots. And in spite of her fan base, it was Martin that was left out in a competition with UConn alum Kaitlyn Chen and former first round pick Laeticia Amihere from South Carolina.

Kate Martin is the final cut from the Valkyries.

They opt to keep Kaitlyn Chen and Laeticia Amihere over Martin. The move makes sense in terms of need but Martin is an incredibly popular player with a fan base that shows up in every city.

— Matt Lively (@mattblively) May 7, 2026 As innocent as the tweet may seem, it still drew condemnation from Dawn Staley. She called out Lively for daring to use the names of other players, especially her former player in Amihere, in talking about Martin’s departure. She said it was “not cool” and said she hopes that Lively can cover the team “unbiasedly” in the future. Not cool to actually use other players names specifically Laeticia Amihere for your personal preface. I hope if you cover the Valkyries you can unbiasedly do so moving forward.

— dawnstaley (@dawnstaley) May 8, 2026 Staley’s tweet drew pushback across social media for trying to paint a narrative that Lively was somehow biased in his reporting or rooting for or against certain players to make the final Valkyries roster. It would be one thing if she was merely defending her own player and rooting for her success in the pros, but the consistent reaction to her post was that the South Carolina coach took it too far. There were also plenty of individuals who pointed out that Dawn Staley did the same thing that she called out Lively for when she spoke openly about how Angel Reese’s trade away from the Chicago Sky would for another one of her former players in Kamilla Cardoso. All respect to the Dawn, but personally I think this is uncalled for. is one of the best in the biz and he was simply pointing out the roster crunch.

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