The wait is over: Valkyries 2025 first-round pick Justė Jocytė joins team after year overseas

SAN FRANCISCO - Last year, the Valkyries selected Justė Jocytė (YOU-steh Yo-CHEE-teh) with their first-ever draft pick. For the last 13 months, Golden State allowed the highly-touted Lithuanian guard to develop overseas in a classic draft-and-stash maneuver.

Now, less than a week after touching down in the Bay, the Valkyries are ready to start collecting on their investment.

Jocytė had her first full practice with the Valkyries on Sunday, after watching from the sidelines during Golden State's recent two-game road trip.

The Valkyries selected the 20-year-old playmaker fifth overall in the 2025 draft, but spent last season without her as she competed with the Lithuanian national team at EuroBasket, then with Uni Girona CB of the Spanish league.

Jocytė will be available for the Valkyries for their game against the Connecticut Sun on Monday.

While she admitted she is still trying to adjust to the playbook and the new system, her arrival brings Golden State another offensive threat and someone who can be a shot creator for the gritty defensive team.

"I think I can bring more calmness, I guess, and be more of a pick-and-roll player," Jocytė said after Sunday's practice. "I feel like this team is very good in one-on-one isolation plays, and spacing out. Me, of course, I will have to get used to it, but I’m not that type of player fully. I prefer pick-and-roll, so I think I bring a different kind of balance."

Jocytė is coming off a Spanish league season in which she averaged 11.1 points, 4.1 assists and 2.5 rebounds per game, while shooting 45.3% from the field and 35.8% from behind the 3-point line.

A tall ball handler, Jocytė is every bit the 6-foot height the team has listed her at. Valkyries coach Natalie Nakase said even while Jocytė has been away from the team she’s been going over film. Nakase also thought Jocytė’s first practice went well Sunday.

"She looked good," Nakase said. "She picked up a lot of it off the video but then now to see her, she flowed really well."

Though she carries a rookie designation, Jocytė is a pro basketball veteran. The lefty sharpshooter made her pro debut at 13 in Lithuania, and at 14 became the youngest player to play in the Ligue Féminine de Basketball (France's top league).

With most of the Valkyries players having played heavy minutes overseas for the past few seasons, Jocytė's talent isn't surprising to her new teammates.

"She’s another versatile guard that can shoot, that can create, that can get to the rim and that can guard multiple positions," Valkyries guard Kaila Charles told the Bay Area News Group after Monday's shoot around. "I’m excited to see how she meshes with our team. She’s super young. She’s only 20 and she does have a really high ceiling. I think she’s gonna be fine."

Nakase added, "She does not act like a young player, for sure. She has a great maturity about her, and that’s what we like too."

Jocytė profiles as a player who can help the Valkyries on both ends of the floor.

In Golden State's two losses to Indiana and Chicago, the Valkyries struggled when defenses pressed up against their guards and forced them to take tough shots at the rim with the shot clock running down. In both defeats, the Valkyries shot sub-40% from the field and below 35% from the 3-point line.

Jocytė's proficiency as a pick-and-roll ball handler projects well for a team that can use another player who can get downhill.

Though she doesn't have high-end athleticism, Jocytė's role as a bigger guard will help an undersized Golden State team on the boards. Nakase has experimented with small-ball lineups, with forwards such as Kayla Thornton and Janelle Salaün playing center. So expect Jocytė to be used in a similar fashion if the matchups are right.

For a team hoping to win a championship in the next four years, Jocytė's development will be vital, especially after the Valkyries essentially punted on this past WNBA draft.

It’s been her developmental potential, paired with a veteran’s on-court demeanor, that has impressed her new teammates so far.

"When I played against her, one thing I noticed is that no one can speed her up," Charles said. "She plays at her own pace, which is really good. So, the fact that she has all that poise and she’s super young, she’s gonna be really fun."

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This story was originally published May 25, 2026 at 6:49 PM.