‘It's going to take time': Why Valkyries aren't playing talented rookie Jocytė

Justė Jocytė arrived in the Bay Area as one of the Valkyries' most intriguing long-term investments.

The fifth overall selection in the 2025 WNBA draft — the Valkyries’ first-ever draft pick — made her debut with Golden State last month after spending last year in Europe.

But after briefly cracking the rotation through her first five games of her Valkyries tenure, Jocytė has largely disappeared from any meaningful game action.

The reason, according to coach Natalie Nakase, isn't performance as much as it is patience.

Golden State is trying to mold Jocytė into a point guard – a position she has never played before. The move, if it works, can ultimately raise her ceiling as she already possesses the scoring and playmaking tools to be a franchise cornerstone for the Valkyries.

The challenge is that the Valkyries are asking the 20-year-old Lithuanian guard to learn one of the league's most demanding positions on the fly, making meaningful contributions this season far less certain than they appeared during her first few games.

"Obviously it’s going to be a little bit different from where she’s played before, but I need her to be prepared for the physicality and the pace of the W," Nakase said before Sunday's 92-73 loss to the Las Vegas Aces. "It's not easy for any rookie. You can ask Kaitlyn (Chen) last year. It’s physical, and also I want her to be in the best shape, so I don’t set her up for an injury as well. I love that Justė has been very patient, but she’s learning so much in terms of the point guard position."

Jocytė made a solid first impression with the Valkyries.

After missing all of training camp and the Valkyries’ first five games, she made her debut in a blowout win over Connecticut, running onto the court late in the fourth quarter to a raucous crowd that waited over a year for her arrival.

"This is just a glimpse of what she's capable of and I'm just excited that she's here," Valkyries forward Gabby Williams said after Jocytė's debut.

Over the next week, she played nearly 16 straight second-half minutes in a tight win over Indiana and scored eight points in just 13 minutes to help beat Portland. The Valkyries played Jocytė as a combo guard, letting her play off of players like Veronica Burton and Janelle Salaün while also hunting 3-pointers from the perimeter as a spot-up shooter.

But it seemingly went downhill after the Valkyries' loss to the Minnesota Lynx on June 4. Jocytė played seven minutes and went 0-for-4 with multiple missed layup attempts.

Since then, Jocytė has been a healthy scratch in five of the Valkyries' last seven games. In the two games she did play, the crafty ballhandler was inserted in garbage time minutes .

The move to go away from Jocytė was somewhat puzzling as she seemed to be trending in the right direction, even despite a bad game against Minnesota.

However, after those first five games Jocytė played, Nakase and the coaching staff decided to move her to point guard. Nakase said she liked Jocytė’s skills as a passer and pick-and-roll ball handler – a skillset that would be different than what the current point guards on the roster bring.

“Her attention to detail is very impressive and her calmness about her when she does go over plays is something different than Veronica and Kaitlyn (Chen),” Nakase said. “For me she’s going to be great player because she’s going to challenge me in different ways, even more so than Veronica and Kaitlyn because to me they’re very similar to me.”

It's a significant development and the Valkyries aren't rushing it.

Rather than throwing Jocytė into live game action before they believe she's ready, Golden State has been leaning on what the organization calls "stay ready” games – post-practice scrimmages designed specifically for the back end of the roster to work through in-game situations at game speed.

The session gives players like Jocytė a lower-stakes environment to learn the reads, responsibilities and habits of being a point guard. Nakase has made clear that her point guards must be vocal and physical when they are on the court.

"I don't think you can evolve a point guard overnight," Nakase said earlier this month. “It’s more about her being a vocal leader. That doesn’t happen overnight. It’s not really who she is. So I have to continue to press her buttons and challenge her, but I also have to see it come to fruition in the ‘stay ready’ games. So I think it’s going to take some time.

Since moving her to the end of the bench, the Valkyries have gone 4-3 and have gotten solid contributions from other guards on the roster.

Behind Burton, second-year ballhandler Kaitlyn Chen has averaged 11 points across the Valkyries' last three games. Veteran Tiffany Hayes has also assumed some point guard duties and has impressed Nakase with her poise.

But Nakase hasn't shut the door entirely on Jocytė getting real minutes in a game.

Backup center Laeticia Amihere was in a similar boat as Jocytė, having been out of the rotation for a long stretch of games. Nakase gave Amihere minutes in the first half of the Valkyries' win over the Dallas Wings on Wednesday and she has played in both games since.

"What (Laeticia) has shown me in the stay ready games is her fight. She’s been doing maximum effort and that's what we’ve been asking for," Nakase said. "When we talk about minutes, I'm never just going to give minutes to players. They’re going to earn it and that's what I saw with LA."

The timeline remains fluid.

While Jocytė certainly has skills that can help the Valkyries right now, Nakase hasn't put a hard date on when she feels the guard might crack the rotation again. The organization appears content to let the process unfold at its own pace.

The investment in her development signals something larger than this season. The Valkyries see Jocytė as a building block, and they'd rather build correctly than rush her into a role that she's not yet ready to execute.

Could this ultimately be a redshirt year for Jocytė? Possibly.

But whether she sees meaningful time on the floor in weeks or months, the work is happening. Just not under the bright lights, at least not yet.

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This story was originally published June 22, 2026 at 10:55 AM.