Kate Martin has been enthusiastic with her new team, the Golden State Valkyries. On Wednesday, the Valkyries’ Instagram account shared a clip of Martin dancing with her teammates during practice.
The Valkyries’ IG captioned their clip, “Today’s energy is next level” and “Money Moves Martin clocking in for Day 3.”
Kate Martin, who played her rookie season with the Las Vegas Aces, landed on the Valkyries through the expansion draft last December.
The former Iowa Hawkeye struggled with the Aces due to its star-studded roster. She played in 34 regular-season games, averaging 2.0 points in small minutes, while she hadn’t recorded stats in the Playoffs.
Now, Martin embraces a fresh opportunity, having a positive presence in a reloaded roster and a vibrant Valkyrie culture. Hopefully, she’ll return to her averages of 13.1 points and 6.8 rebounds in her final year with the Hawkeyes, where she became one of their keys in the national playoffs.
As the Valkyries’ debut match against the Los Angeles Sparks commences on May 6, Kate Martin is confident that her team, despite lacking marquee names, will compete with full force this season.
“Killers,” Martin said. “We want to be gritty, we want to be relentless. We want to be the ones diving on the floor for loose balls. We went to be the ones getting stops, we want to be playing together and work our tails off.”
Kate Martin welcomes new teammate after being drafted
Kate Martin was emotional when the Las Vegas Aces selected her last year’s WNBA Draft, embracing her relatives. Now, with the Golden State Valkyries, she was among the first to compliment rookie Kaitlyn Chen, who was drafted 30th overall by the team last month.
In her late Instagram story, Martin congratulated Chen, sharing the WNBA’s clip drafting the former UConn Huskies and captioning, “Congrats @kaitlyn.chen Getting drafted from the crowd is a classic!!”
Chen was one of the Huskies’ roster when they won the 2025 national championship, averaging 6.9 points, 3.4 rebounds, and 51.4% shooting in 23.4 minutes. She’ll be the first of Taiwanese descent to join the WNBA.
Playing her first three years with Princeton, where she averaged 16.2 points in her sophomore year, Chen transferred to UConn for her senior year to replace Nika Muhl, who graduated and went to the Seattle Storm.
The Valkyries welcomed three draftees ahead of their inaugural season. Kate Martin’s team, packed with fresh talent and seasoned veterans, is prepared to face off against tough opponents in their WNBA debut.
For more basketball content, click on Hardwood Heroics. Sabel Reyes can be reached through sabelreyes22@gmail.com. Other websites under the Sports Heroics umbrella are Gridiron Heroics and Wisconsin Heroics.
Sabel has been working as a field reporter for People’s Television Network (PTV), mainly about the Philippine Basketball Association since 2016 and has been elevated to Executive Producer for sports in 2022. Aside from being on top of the Philippine sports scene, she is also a running enthusiast. You can also follow her on X at @SabelReyes2 and Instagram at @msabelreyes.
