Marta Suarez for Flau’jae Johnson might be one of the funniest trades in basketball history. The Golden State Valkyries pulled an Indiana Fever move. They traded their first-round pick for cap space.
I said this from the beginning: Marta Suarez was not going to make the roster. I also said from the start that I did not think Marta Suarez was that good. On my big board, there were four shooters who were interchangeable: Marta Suarez, Justeena Pissott, Yarn Garrido, and Myisha Hines-Allen. I had Suarez fourth among them.
In my defense, I did not have Pissott first at the time, but now I would because it turns out she is actually 6’4”, and Garrido is not. We also never really saw Garrido. My order was Garrido, Pissott, Dugan, then Suarez. I had Marta Suarez as a late third-round pick.
The Valkyries traded Flau’jae Johnson for a player they eventually waived.
Flau’jae Johnson is going to be the face of a franchise. This could become one of the worst trades in WNBA history. They traded away a young player who is a massive off-the-court draw and would have fit perfectly in the Bay Area because of everything she does. She plays with a high motor, can shoot, and can create her own shot.
Yes, there are flaws in her game. She does not dribble well at times and struggles attacking left. But conversations about whether Flau’jae projects as an All-Star or all-WNBA player are completely different from wondering whether Marta Suarez is even a WNBA player.
When Suarez got invited to the green room, I was shocked. She is a sixth-year senior who did not become productive until her final season. She could not shoot consistently until that year either. It felt like a one-year shooting streak.
Not only that, she is turnover-prone and makes questionable decisions. The Flau’jae trade is absolutely confusing at best and potentially one of the worst trades ever if Flau’jae reaches her full potential.
There have been worse trades in hindsight, obviously. But at the moment it happened, very few trades looked this bad this quickly.
This reminds me of the Indiana Fever giving up the eighth pick for cap space. People say they traded it for Sophie Cunningham, but that is not really true. The Mercury had to move Sophie Cunningham’s contract to make the NaLyssa Smith trade work.
The Fever gave up the eighth pick mainly to avoid the salary cap hit. That allowed them to give Kelsey Mitchell the supermax and DiJonai Carrington a max contract. If they kept that eighth pick, they would not have had the flexibility to do both deals.
In the end, they basically traded the pick for cap space.
That is why this Valkyries trade looks even worse. Flau’jae Johnson is exactly the type of player every team should want. She is talented, marketable, competitive, and already has star power.
People bring up baggage involving her mother, but who cares? Comparing her mom to LaVar Ball is ridiculous. She went on Instagram Live and said Flau’jae would outperform the South Carolina players in the draft. Newsflash: she did.
If we did a way-too-early redraft, Flau’jae probably goes near the top. Maybe Miles goes first, maybe Raven second, maybe Flau’jae second or third based on preseason performance. Either way, the original trade looks even worse now.
And the craziest part is that Marta Suarez getting waived surprised absolutely nobody.
The Valkyries clearly did not want to draft Flau’jae because bringing her into camp would likely guarantee her contract for the season. They did not want that commitment.
Why? So they could pay Teaira McCowan?
Everyone talks about how smart the Valkyries are because they exceeded expectations last year. But even then, I questioned why they were trying to quick-fix a rebuild. Why rush the process?
Fans were excited when the team got Flau’jae. Even Flau’jae herself looked shocked because the Valkyries barely interviewed her before moving her.
Now Seattle suddenly has one of the best young cores in the league with Flau’jae Johnson, Aliyah Boston, and Damiris Dantas. There is a real possibility that multiple players in that group become All-Stars before turning 22.
Meanwhile, Marta Suarez may never play a WNBA game.
She will probably head back to Europe and try to work her way up through EuroLeague competition because that TCU season looked fake from the start. I said it at the time. People wanted the Fever to draft her at 10, and I thought that would have been a disaster.
Some argued the Fever needed a stretch four, but Suarez never looked convincing to me. Even now, when people talk about Pissott as the answer at stretch four, I still think she is not fully ready yet.
But Marta Suarez was the definition of a fake breakout season. She was a sixth-year senior who had one big NCAA Tournament performance in a loss, and suddenly people treated her like a top prospect.
You do not make major franchise decisions based on a sixth-year senior breakout.
The Valkyries traded away a potential franchise face for cap space while trying to outsmart everyone.
Fire the GM immediately.
People say not to fire her because opportunities for female GMs are limited, but job performance has nothing to do with gender. Teams should hire the best people available regardless of race or gender.
Yes, the Valkyries GM crushed the expansion draft because teams foolishly left stash players unprotected. But that was a unique situation.
This trade, however, is a complete disaster and absolutely looks like a fireable offense.
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