Why did Valkyries trade Flau'Jae Johnson? GM won't say for now

TL;DR

The Golden State Valkyries drafted Flau'Jae Johnson but traded her to the Seattle Storm shortly after. In return, they received forward Marta Suárez and a 2028 second-round pick, raising questions about their draft strategy.

The Golden State Valkyries drafted LSU star guard Flau'Jae Johnson in the first round of Monday night's WNBA Draft... and then randomly traded her to the Seattle Storm at the start of the second round.

Golden State obtained forward Marta Suárez and a 2028 second rounder from the Storm for Johnson, begging the question as to why the Valkyries didn't just take Suárez to begin with in the first round if that's who they wanted.

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It's one of the most baffling moves we've seen in the modern draft era, to see a team draft a player and then trade them away at the top of the next round to another team... so that they can get the player that team drafted and a middle-round pick that won't be available for another two years.

Golden State has done a great job building its team since joining the league, but this decision just doesn't make a ton of sense. When asked about explaining the decision, Valkyries general manager Ohemaa Nyanin deflected sharing any direct reasoning for now.

""I'm going to take a beat to be able to eloquently give a response," Nyanin said, via ESPN's Alexa Philippou. "I don't have a lot of detail to share. One, because I'm exhausted. Two, because I want to be very thoughtful when I'm talking about other humans and their basketball abilities and how they would or would not show up for our squad."

We're left with more questions than we could possibly ask. Why did you draft a player you are seemingly hinting didn't fit with what you wanted on your basketball team stylistically? Why not just take Suárez in the first place? Did you have any players like Suárez on your big board ahead of her you could have drafted instead of Johnson?

Again, Nyanin really didn't seem compelled to offer much of a reason as to why this all went down.

"When I'm ready to speak more about what the strategy is behind it, I'll speak on it," Nyanin told reporters about her draft reasoning, via Clutch Sports' Kenzo Fukuda. "I don't really speak about my strategy publicly because other teams are watching."

If you're Johnson, you're probably still a bit baffled as to why all of this happened like it did. She's certainly not alone if so, and it doesn't sound like any firm explanations are coming anytime soon from Golden State.

This article originally appeared on For The Win: Why did Valkyries trade Flau'Jae Johnson? GM won't say for now

Q&A

Why did the Golden State Valkyries trade Flau'Jae Johnson after drafting her?

The Valkyries traded Johnson to acquire forward Marta Suárez and a future second-round pick, although the reasoning behind this decision remains unclear.

What did the Valkyries receive in exchange for Flau'Jae Johnson?

In exchange for Johnson, the Valkyries received forward Marta Suárez and a second-round pick in the 2028 WNBA Draft.

What was the reaction to the Valkyries trading Flau'Jae Johnson?

The trade was met with surprise and confusion, as many viewed it as one of the most baffling moves in recent draft history.