The Golden State Valkyries have released center Kyara Linskens, the team announced on Sunday.
Linskens, who was in the midst of her first WNBA season after playing several years across Europe, averaged 1.0 points and 1.5 rebounds in 6.7 minutes per game.
Linskens, 28, played in just four of the Valkyries’ eight games so far this season as the team’s third-string center. She wasn’t expected to make the roster out of training camp, but strong preseason performances earned her a spot.
Earlier this season, Linskens said she wasn’t going to play for her home country of Belgium at the EuroBasket tournament and instead focus on her role with the Valkyries.
“The WNBA has been a dream,” Linskens said last month. “I’ve been on the national team for 10 years and already accomplished a lot of things. This is something completely new and I told myself, ‘I want to focus on this.’ This is my first year and it might be once in a lifetime, who knows?”
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It’s not clear if those plans have changed now. Linskens’ release comes at an interesting time as EuroBasket is set to begin on June 18 and some players have to report to their teams as early as this week.
Julie Vanloo, Janelle Salaün, Cecilia Zandalasini and Temi Fagbenle are expected to leave Golden State to play for their home countries at EuroBasket.
The Valkyries could sign players to hardship contracts should their roster dwindle below 10 players.
