On Monday, Julie Vanloo landed in San Francisco after successful the EuroBasket championship with Belgium, solely to be taught that she’d been waived by the Golden State Valkyries.
The 32-year-old guard turned to social media to precise her disappointment that she missed Belgium’s championship parade, solely to be taught she was not part of the Valkyries’ future.
Three days later, nevertheless, Vanloo acquired nice information: the Los Angeles Sparks had been signing her.
Vanloo made her WNBA debut in 2024, averaging 7.4 factors and 4.3 assists per recreation for the Washington Mystics.
In December, the Valkyries chosen Vanloo of their growth draft, and he or she appeared in 9 video games earlier than heading abroad for EuroBasket.
Whereas she was gone, the Valkyries re-signed rookie Kaitlyn Chen, whom they drafted thirtieth general in April. Chen, who at present stays on the roster, averaged 4.3 factors in 19.3 minutes per recreation, taking pictures 60% from the sector and 50% from three.
The Sparks will profit from Vanloo’s taking pictures, playmaking
The Sparks, who at present have a 5-12 report, have been led by Kelsey Plum and Odyssey Sims within the backcourt. Sims, nevertheless, was waived earlier this week after averaging 9.8 factors per recreation throughout 12 video games. Plum is averaging 20.6 factors, 5.6 assists, and 1.5 steals.
Vanloo will present Lynne Roberts with one other guard who can deal with the ball, and area the ground. Vanloo has shot 30.8% from three in her WNBA profession. She additionally averaged the second-most assists (4.3) per recreation amongst rookies final yr.
“We’re excited to get her,” Roberts mentioned forward of Thursday’s recreation between the Sparks and the New York Liberty, per Winsidr’s Myles Ehrlich. “One factor we’d like is constant three-point taking pictures. She brings that. She’s tremendous feisty, she’s a winner. Once we performed Golden State, she hit about 4 threes in 70 seconds.”
Vanloo is poised to make her WNBA debut Thursday evening.
