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Golden State Valkyries head coach Natalie Nakase thinks it was “respectful” to cut Julie Vanloo as soon as she arrived home from the European women’s basketball championship. The 32-year-old flew 18 hours back to the United States after winning a gold medal only to find out she is unemployed.
It was an unfortunate sequence of events that creates poor optics for the newest team in the WNBA.
Vanloo began her WNBA career in 2024 with the Washington Mystics after a well-decorated run overseas. The Golden State Valkyries later hand-selected the Belgian point guard for 2025 during the league expansion draft. She averaged 4.6 points, 4.1 assists and 1.9 rebounds in 20 minutes per game over nine games with two starts. And then she left.
Team Belgium won the EuroBasket tournament in 2023. Julie Vanloo wanted to run it back and ignored the request of her club to play for her home country at EuroBasket in 2025. The Valkyries were not happy with the decision. They wanted all of their players to stay stateside during the regular season.
Technically (and legally) speaking, WNBA teams cannot cut a player for reporting to international duty but there is no rule to prevent a trade. That was a possibility for Vanloo. She was prepared for Golden State to trade her while she was at EuroBasket. She did not expect what actually happened.
Belgium won the European championship on Saturday. They celebrated the win with a huge crowd at the Royal Palace of Brussels upon return to their home country.
Julie Vanloo was not with them. She got right on a plane to report back to the WNBA and flew 18 hours from Athens to San Francisco. Golden State immediately waived her contract upon arrival. Immediately.
Fans are furious with the situation. Team Belgium players spoke out against the club. Vanloo is sad.
Head coach Natalie Nakase does not agree with the criticism. She thinks it was handled the right way.
I can see both sides here. It is important to have difficult conversations in person. The Valkyries also had to let Vanloo go when she was back in the United States for visa purposes.
However, I don’t understand why this move couldn’t wait an extra day or two to allow Vanloo to celebrate the EuroBasket victory. Golden State publicly dragged Julie Vanloo for international duty. It cut her as soon as she got back. The optics are horrible.