WNBA expansion project
When: 6:30 p.m. on Friday
To watch: ESPN
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The Golden State Valkyries CEO is developing a game plan for the expansion draft
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For Ohemaa Nyaninit gave the look of the perfect ending and best case scenario.
As the New York Liberty celebrated its first WNBA championship in franchise history on Oct. 20 in Brooklyn, New York, across the country, a former Liberty executive stood screaming at the television and crying tears of joy in her recent Bay Area apartment.
Nyanin spent five years with the Liberty organization, first as director of basketball operations after which, starting in 2022, as assistant general manager.
In May, Nyanin was named general manager of the Golden State Valkyries, the WNBA’s first expansion team since 2008.
Since being hired seven months ago, Nyanin has been charged with revitalizing the basketball team of the newly formed Golden State organization. Her next big step in that process will come Friday when she selects the first group of Valkyrie players in the WNBA expansion draft.
A couple of weeks before New York won the title, Nyanin was in Brooklyn for the second game of the finals after her former colleagues in the Liberty office begged her to return to the Barclays Center.
“I just wanted to see the evolution of what we built in 2019 in Westchester County Center to where we are today,” Nyanin said.
Nyanin thought she would complete this evolution in 2023, when the Liberty would compete for the WNBA championship against the Las Vegas Aces. Instead, she and her family watched as the Aces celebrated after defeating Liberty on their home court.
“I had to come back to sort of cleanse the experience,” Nyanin said.
Seeing the team she played a major role in constructing achieve its ultimate goal marked a satisfying end to a momentous chapter for Nyanin. Now Nyanin can officially retire its Liberty Green Meerschaum.
“I’m rigorous Purple Valkyrie We are moving forward,” she said.
Nyanin has a vision for the growth and development of the Valkyries organization. Before a job candidate joins a franchise in any capability, Nyanin desires to know one thing: Do they wish to construct?
The answer to this query was not all the time what Nyanin expected.
“I think at first I didn’t give much credence to the fact that not everyone wants to build,” Nyanin said.
Nyanin said her vision didn’t come together as quickly as she expected. While this job has required her to have an additional dose of patience in the meantime, she’s reminded of where she got here from in New York in 2019 and what she ultimately completed in 2024. It’s all a process.
“I knew it would be complicated.” Nyanin said. “Knowing that it’s complex and being in that complexity are two different things in my opinion.”
While navigating the starting of her tenure has had its challenges, Nyanin says she’s near the goals she set for herself when she began the job.
“I’ll let all the little victories kind of motivate me to keep going and get to all the things that we need to get to,” Nyanin said.
Two of those victories earned her her first office job. She was hired in July Vanja Černivec to grow to be vp of basketball operations at Golden State. In October, she hired a standout Las Vegas Aces assistant Natalie Nakase as the first trainer of Valkyries.
With the expansion project, Nyanin and her team are trekking into uncharted territory. While the Atlanta Dream has previously been involved in an expansion project, this is true 16 years ago. It is unlikely that any current front office staff may have experience with this process.
“I would say I read the rules every day to make sure I haven’t missed anything,” Nyanin said. “It was a journey. I don’t need to make use of pejoratives or anything like that, which is super fluffy and exciting. It was just a journey. I believe people can appreciate how hard this journey has been, nevertheless it’s something our league may have to undergo.
While the front office hasn’t participated in an expansion project in recent history, it won’t be long before many individuals start making the most of it in the coming seasons, whether or not it involves the newly announced Toronto AND Portland franchises scheduled to start in 2026, or expansion franchises the league is expected to announce in the future.
“It’s always interesting to be the first in a really long time because I think this group of general managers and coaches will probably be there as we go through the next stages of expansion,” Nyanin said.
When it involves the personnel and players who could also be the first Valkyries to play, Nyanin and Nakase share an emphasis on constructing a team with a defensive identity.
“If you look at the teams that have had success over the last three seasons, or more specifically, if not four, they have been top five in defensive rating,” Nyanin said.
Liberty was ranked last season third in the defensive rating.
“I think this needs to be emphasized because I think people, average people, really look at the offense,” she said. “It’s a skill of select athletes and, oh my God, if you have that athlete, you’re definitely going to win basketball games because they know how to do X, right? I don’t think it really talks about how defense can lead to offense, right? Are we always in transition offense because we get all these steals or blocks or deflections?”
For much of the preparation for the expansion project, Nyanin and Nakase needed to work in a cloud of hypotheses. By November 18, Nyanin had not received the list of designated players from which the Valkyries were to decide on. In late September, the WNBA announced the deadline for teams to submit roster lists to the league “about 10 days” before the expansion project.
“If they don’t protect this player, should we go for him? And why or why not?” Nyanin talked about her conversations with Nakase. “We each agreed that we were form of geniuses from our previous locations. So, you understand, form of what I say about New York and whatever she says about Vegas, high-quality.
As general manager, Nyanin believes that one among her standout strengths is her ability to tap into the human aspect of WNBA players. That’s a big a part of what she delivered to Liberty’s office, and it’s something she feels is missing in the CEO dynamic today.
“At the end of the day, these athletes are people first,” Nyanin said. “If you’ll be able to’t understand what motivates an athlete to open the door day-after-day, go to practice, play that sport, wish to win or simply be completely satisfied to be there, it’s good to understand the athlete’s motivations.
“I think this is just an area where we collectively need to do better to provide a safe environment for these athletes to develop.”
For Nyanin, it’s about greater than just what a player can do for the franchise on the pitch. It’s about whether the player wants to construct and share a vision for the franchise: is this a market he thinks he will be in, not only for the season, but for the future?
While Nyanin expects a certain level of investment from anyone who joins the Valkyries, it is not a one-way street. When deciding whether to simply accept the Golden State job, Nyanin stated that she would only feel comfortable leaving Liberty if she knew in her heart that the team had what it took to win.
“The most important thing for me was to make sure the athletes felt I wasn’t abandoning them,” Nyanin said. “that my development was not to come at the expense of their dreams.”
Nyanin believes that with Černivec and Nakase’s experience in producing championship-level winning teams, they’re equipped to construct a competitive squad.
“I believe this is exactly what I wanted to construct. Yes, I make the decisions. I even have very capable decision-makers who all share one common goal. And that is how we will form of attack whatever happens next.”
Nyanin is one among the few two Black WNBA general managers. WITH Exit Natalie Williams was named general manager of the Aces on October 24, and is also the only Black woman to function general manager in the 13-team league. (Three teams currently have vacant CEO positions.)
“I decided not to think about it,” Nyanin said when asked about the importance of getting this job and being a representative of Black CEOs. “It’s so intimidating to think that I’m the only black female GM right now.”
Nyanin added that her storyline and standpoint differ significantly from the experiences of Black Americans. Nyanin was born in Silver Spring, Maryland, but grew up as a third culture child who had lived in five countries.
While her perspective could also be different, she still understands the importance of her presence in the league and hopes that her influence can create opportunities for other Black women.
“If you look at the big picture, we’re still working on it as a league,” Nyanin said. “I’m excited to hopefully make a positive impact in this field, so I hope my success continues to open doors for others.”
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Sports
Jalen Milroe can follow the Jalen path in NFL
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Star Black playmakers aren’t any longer an exception – they’re the rule. Throughout the entire football season, this series will discover the importance and influence of black QB from bottom -up to NFL.
Indianapolis-keep me, should you heard it earlier: playmaker Alabama born in Texas, who’s a stronger runner than a passerby, will probably be called outside the first round of the NFL Draft.
The playmaker was undefeated in Sec as a primary -year starter.
The playmaker never played for the same offensive coordinator.
The name of the playmaker is even Jalen.
But it isn’t clear that Jalen hurts. This winter he was busy winning the Super Bowl MVP, and he didn’t play Iron Bowl or against Michigan.
Instead, it’s a former playmaker of Crimson Tide Jalen Milroewho last week Combine Combine tried to convey the case to the trainers and evaluators that he – like his namesake – is price being their playmaker franchise in the future despite questions on his ability.
“I went through adversity. I saw everything as a quarterback, “Milroe said on Friday. “I played at the most difficult conference in the country. It would be easier to play at other conferences, but what I could see in Sec catapulted me that I was ready to play NFL. “
Justin Casterline/Getty Images
Departing from Katy in Texas, she originally got involved in Texas in 2019, but a 12 months later she fell to Alabama. After he was sitting behind the Crimson Tide Starter Bryung for 2 seasons, Milroe took his reins in the 2023 season. He helped Alabama survive Sec (8-0) this 12 months, won by the conference rival and two-time defender Georgia in the SEC championship, which caused Crimson Tide to the play-off collection.
But while Milroe had a big arm (his 10 yards for the test took third place in Sec in 2023), the pass was not his strong suit. For two seasons as a starter Milroe never achieved 3000 yards in one season, the first starter of Alabama, who did it because it … hurts.
Hurts, from Houston, led Crimson Tide to the National National Championships in 2016–17, but during these two seasons were lower than 5,000 yards. While Hurts was a singular Rusher (1,809 yards and 21 sticks) at the moment, his weakness as a passerby is known for led to the spare Tua Tavailoa during the break of the national championships in 2017.
In the mix, Milroe decided that despite his pedestrian passes, he was still worthy of being a start at NFL.
He is aware of his weaknesses and swore that he worked in the ass to enhance outside being “one dimension.” He could move when his legendary trainer, Nick Saban, retired after the 2023 season, but decided to not fall off. He traveled six miles a day to ensure that that something was left in the fourth quarter in the fourth quarter. He studied progression and reads after I-SNAP to lift his IQ in football.
Unlike the forecast sorts of the first round, Cam Ward and Shedeur Sanders, Milroe threw a mix on Saturday, hoping that he would show the bands that he has mechanics to do that to the playmaker NFL. It turned out to be a mixed bag. Milroe showed strong arm strength and a very good location of sail routes, curls and it while throwing exercises, but fought accuracy on intermediate and on the routes.
“That’s so many things that I can learn more where I am today and where I will be when it comes to day 1, starting with NFL,” said Milroe before Saturday exercises. “Always be a game student, at all times attempt to develop, because it would be so many opportunities in which I can look back and say that it was the moment after I grew up as a playmaker.
“That’s right now, I’m just trying to grow as much as possible, put my best foot forward and just look for development.”
Derick E. Hingle/Getty Images
Milroe was asked that he was one other playmaker in Alabama to succeed in the mix, following in the footsteps of the role (who moved to Oklahoma in 2019), Tavailoa, Mac Jones and Bryce Young. Milroe said he appreciates being in the company of others, but he added that it’s difficult to check him with others.
“We had different bands, we had different players around us, we had a different system,” he said.
But when he specifically asked what he could study the journey of Hurts-from the first manager of the game after the super Bowl-Milroe master said he inspired him his companion Alabam.
“The most important thing I learned from J. Hurts is how he kept his head (I) always continued to work,” said Milroe. “He at all times raised his game, he has never been self -deserved, and all the pieces you see is great progress from him.
“And I have to applaud him as a person, he as a man, because he is definitely inspiring for many playmakers of my image, as well as many playmakers throughout the country. He leads to all of us. “
The couple isn’t completely similar. Hurts had about 20 kilos on Milroe when he was in college. Milroe has a stronger arm, while Hurts played more and not using a mistake of football: Milroe threw 17 interceptions and ate 67 bags for 2 seasons as a starter in comparison with 10 captures Hurts and 43 bags.
But they can each be changing the game when their teams need them. In a highly publicized match against Georgia at the starting of the last season, Milroe finished almost 82% of his passes on 374 yards and two appointments, adding 117 yards to the ground for the next two results.
Milroe can also match the wounds in the so -called “Jalen-ISMS. “
“Climbing upstairs is not easy, but when you reach the top of this mountain, you will learn so many things when it comes to adversity when it comes to difficulties, things along the way,” said Milroe in a mix.
Sports
Like Tommie Smith and John Carlos from 1968. Black Power Salute inspired me to find my goal
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I’d say that I grew up within the household to be sure that that me and my siblings were aware of the black history. My parents invested in the gathering of black encyclopedias. On the duvet we had a version of the Bible with Black Jesus. Our house was stuffed with books of black novelists and thinkers, and if a black document appeared, we watched it. I watched all movies made on television about Dr. King, each “Roots” and “Alex Haley’s Queen” and I sat for all 14 hours “Eyes on the reward”-as a toddler. Bless my heart.
Having said this, there have been pockets of black history, and more likely that I had no opportunity to delve into once I was a toddler. The college was where all the will for information and understanding of the combined. I attended Morehouse College in Atlanta, Ga., One of a very powerful historically black universities within the country. It was there that I met people from around the globe whose knowledge about black history differed (often depending on the colleges and the communities by which we lived), but everyone had hunger to learn more.
One day, through the first yr, I remember one among my friends in a T -shirt by which I had definitely seen before, but I never paid attention to. There was a black and white screen printing on the shirt (what I do know now) the enduring moment on the Olympic Games in Mexico in 1968, where on the rostrum for 200-meter medals, Tommie Smith, John Carlos (races 1. And 3. Place Finaners) Everyone gathered a black fist in gloves while he played “Star Spangled Banner”. Peter Norman, the second place from Australia, wore a human rights badge, like Smith and Carlos.
Not only did they raise the fist of black power (although they each said it was for human rights), they received medals in black socks to represent poverty within the black community, and Smith wore a black scarf for black pride. Carlos showed solidarity with blue-wheeled employees, unpacking the jacket and wore a necklace from the beads for individuals who were lynched. Due to the state of Black America in 1968 and a continuing struggle for equality and civil rights, there have been calls to a boycott of the Games. Martin Luther King, Jr. He was also killed in April this yr – and all three athletes were inspired enough to find a way to do it on the rostrum, which led to one of the crucial durable images of public protest.
I remember how I learned history and realized that on the most important scene these brave men used their moment of triumph and victory to quietly protest against the conditions of underrated communities in America. I felt strengthened; We often discuss standing on the arms of giants, however the more I got into the history of black in America, the more I spotted what number of giants there have been. In college I used to be very bad and for a while ready to burn every part that represented the establishment or any obstacle to black liberation. I felt like all those individuals who even saw their space on the planet in reference to individuals who could never give you the option to speak as heroes whose lives were to be modeled later. Especially since it was also fastidiously that putting people in front of him can often bring an enormous personal loss.
When Smith and Carlos took their position, they were booed on the stadium and ordered to be sent home by the International Olympic Committee. The athletes returned home, but they weren’t welcomed by the hero, but as a substitute of rough sleds, and even in some cases the specter of death. They were also not beloved by athletes. Two men, associated eternally in history, even have a good relationship –Carlos even claims that he let Smith go within the race Because “Tommie Smith would never put his fist in the sky if I won this race,” the claim that Smith denies.
History ultimately has a way of rights, but it surely took a few years and realizations on the front of social policy, in order that the actions of those persons are perceived as brave and needed, not only selfish and smug.
The lessons that I learned from College and continuous reading and education I gained (my head remained within the book about black history) were one among the best advantages in HBCU. The very variety of books I learned about about which I actually have never heard of – I actually have upheld me all my life.
That is why I remember sooner or later I used to be walking around Washington, the eastern Washington market and a street seller was selling different photos of moments in black history, and he had a 40 -inch photo within the Tommie Smith and John Carlos frame. I paid for it in money and spent it across the capital of the country until I returned home. I do know that it happened in 2005 (I finished Morehouse College in 2001) because I just moved to my first apartment with no roommate and it was the very first thing that I actually have ever suspended on the wall. This picture within the frame still hangs on the wall in my home in 2025 and I used it to teach my children about sacrifice and privilege and how you may have to discuss individuals who cannot.
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The query that my youngest children often ask: “How do I know who can’t speak for herself?” Which is an incredible query. For this I answered an easy fact, pointing to the photo:
“These men have made a gesture that gave people whose most of us, including them, would never see or never know them, but on which life negatively affects the alternatives of the wealthy and the federal government. Sometimes you may have to take this chance to say something because you do not know in the event you’ll ever have such a big platform.
Son, there may be at all times someone who cannot speak for himself, and you may have to use it in a voice, because perhaps the thing you say or a stand that can help someone you understand, live a greater life. ”
I take advantage of words that may understand a little bit higher, but I can inform you that my children have a look at this photo on a regular basis, and once one among my sons said: “These guys are heroes, right?”
I say yes, they’re. They are the heroes of the Black History.
They will live eternally for speaking, and even quietly, in solidarity with those that couldn’t.
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Sports
Main Treasury Official Morgan State University, Sterling Steward, died
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Morgan State University announced that his older associate athletics director and tax director, Sterling Steward, died.
No reason for death was disclosed, but the college has confirmed his contribution since he was employed in December 2022.
Morgan State University Athletics mourns Sterling Steward’s departure https://t.co/avjzilxhja
– Grizzly Life (@grizzlylife22) February 26, 2025
Steward died on February 26. In Morgan State he was accountable for the event of university programs, supporting partnerships and strengthening the financial and operational success of the Faculty.
“Sterling was more than a colleague-he was a respected leader, mentor and friend,” said in a written statement by Den Freeman-Patton, vice chairman and director of inter-university athletes. “His passion for athletics and commitment to raising Morgan programs were visible in everything he did. He worked tirelessly to ensure that our sports students had resources and the possibilities of distinction, and its impact will be felt for many years. We expand our deepest condolences to his family and loved ones, especially his three sons and sister when we mourn this huge loss. “
While the steward worked in Morgan, strategic growth and cooperation occurred. His work with the institutional development department helped to offer more opportunities and created lasting relationships to support sports programs.
Steward earlier he worked At the University of New Orleans (UNO) as an assistant to the college athletics director for strategic income generation. He also made stays on the University of Alaska Fairbanks, Savannah State University, Mississippi Valley State University, Alabama State University, Kentucky State University, Eastern Oregon University and Xavier University in various roles, including for a senior consultant athletics director and sports director.
He was from New Orleans, who received the title of bachelor and master’s degree on the University of Southern Mississippi. He won a bachelor’s degree in the sphere of coaching and administration/history of sport and his master’s degree in the sphere of sport management.
(Tagstransate) Morgan State Universiry
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