Kaitlyn Chen is currently putting the league on notice with the surprisingly successful Golden State Valkyries, but her road to doing so was anything but linear.
Chen started her collegiate career at Princeton University, averaging 14.2 points, 3.9 assists, 3.5 rebounds, and 1.1 steals across three seasons in the Ivy League (her freshman year was cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic). The guard won three straight Ivy League Tournaments with Princeton and was named Most Outstanding Player of the Tournament in all three of those years, as well as winning first-team All-Ivy honors in 2023 and 2024 and being named the conference’s Player of the Year in 2023.
Two factors gave Chen a tough choice to make: the Ivy League does not allow graduate students to participate in athletics, and Ivy League dominance doesn’t often translate to being drafted to the big leagues. Princeton’s hero ventured down the historically secure route, committing to play for Geno Auriemma on the UConn Huskies for her fifth and final year of college, filling a gaping hole at the point guard position left by Nika Mühl, who’d just been drafted to the Seattle Storm. Playing alongside stars Paige Bueckers and Azzi Fudd, Chen’s role, of course, looked very different than it did in New Jersey, but the guard still managed to average 6.9 points, 3.4 assists, 1.8 rebounds, and 1.2 steals for the Huskies. Her resume at that point was good enough for Chen to be picked out of the stands in the 2025 WNBA Draft, joining a new Valkyries team that gave her the best chance at securing a roster spot.
And secure a roster spot she did. Chen was initially waived by the Valkyries in May of 2025, but was re-signed a month later, achieving the rare feat of signing a WNBA contract as a third-rounder. The guard only averaged two points, a rebound, and an assist per game in 10.3 minutes coming off the bench, but the team overachieved greatly, sneaking into the playoffs as an eight-seed before being knocked out by the Minnesota Lynx.
A turning point in the narrative
After serving under legendary coach Becky Hammon and winning back-to-back championships in Las Vegas, Natalie Nakase was named the head coach of the Valkyries, becoming the league’s first-ever Asian-American head coach in its then 29 years of operation. Nakase was outspoken about what this feat meant to her and her community, and has remained steadfast in preaching a message of inclusion.
Chen is also a trailblazer for the Asian community, being the first player of Taiwanese descent to be drafted to and play in the WNBA. Having both Nakase and Chen repping for their respective communities was supposed to be something special, but some fans saw it differently. Suddenly, Nakase was accused of showing favoritism to Chen by not cutting her in the midst of her largely unimpressive rookie season.
The chatter got even louder at the start of the 2026 season when, faced with a tough decision, Golden State had to cut fan-favorite Kate Martin to make room for Gabby Williams and 2025 draftee Justė Jocytė, who was joining the team for the first time after fulfilling her duties in Europe. Given Veronica Burton’s breakout Most Improved Player season in 2025, Chen and Martin, as guards, were naturally on the hot seat, and the choice to cut Martin struck a nerve with many.
Chen’s heard the talk. During her appearance on Sue Bird’s “Bird’s Eye View” podcast, Chen spoke to the challenges of being put into a box because of her identity and how, especially during her rookie season, it was hard for her to feel like she was an individual instead of a tool for creating narratives about the W.
Basketball has a way of drowning out all of the other noise around it, and now that Chen actually has the chance to play as much basketball as she can for the Bay, it’s clear that she was 100 percent deserving of the Valkyries’ last roster spot. In 14.8 minutes per game off the bench, Chen has averaged seven points and two assists, which may seem minimal, but her impact on the game is often very loud, especially in the minutes during which Burton and Williams cannot get anything going. Chen shoots 54.7 percent from the field and has dropped over 15 points four times this year as the Valkyries have coasted to being the third seed. Chen leads the bench unit alongside Janelle Salaün, who’s solidified herself as the 6th Player of the Year favorite by leading all reserves in points, rebounds, 3PM, PPG, and 20-point games.
“We have to be the only team that has multiple 6POTY options,” said Gabby Williams after Chen scored 12 points in the third quarter to lead the Valkyries to a win against the Indiana Fever in July. “It’s insane.”
Chen sports one of the league’s most impressive layup packages—especially given her shorter stature—and has a way of setting up isos that all but guarantee that she’ll score a quick and easy two points when Golden State needs it most. A player who was once being told she didn’t deserve to play in the W was now, just a year later, getting incredulous looks from opposing teams’ fans. Now, major national sports outlets see her as valuable enough to include in a trade for the likes of Kelsey Plum.
A building block for the future
The sad reality of expansion is that there’s no current roster in the W that will look the same come 2028, and then 2030. The expansion draft will come along like the Grim Reaper yet again, stealing fan favorites and benched hidden gems and giving them the opportunity to shine in a new market and create new fans in new corners of the country. With a team as well-rounded as the Valkyries, especially, this is a devastating part of the game to come to terms with. Who knows how much longer Chen will get to rock the iconic lavender in front of Ballhalla, or how much longer she, along with Nakase, will be there to inspire young Asian girls in and around San Francisco.
In the meantime, though, the Valkyries need to thank their lucky stars that they decided to take a chance on Chen—it’s already paid off tenfold.
