How former Indiana Fever Temi Fagbenle fits in with Golden State

INDIANAPOLIS – The Golden State Valkyries had one specific trait they were looking for in every single player they selected Friday night in the WNBA expansion draft: competitiveness.

They wanted to ensure they selected players with the right mentality to build a team from the ground up. Players who don’t care what place they occupy in the rotation, whether they start or come off the bench. Players who want to win everything.

“My non-negotiables are No. 1, competitiveness, ultra-competitiveness,” said Valkyries head coach Natalie Nakase. “You could tell by the way they played. Every single player is competitive How they feel when they go to the bench and I see high character in every single player. And the last thing is a never-satisfaction attitude, which means they want to play like their life depends on it.”

Forward Temi Fagbenle, whom Golden State selected from Indiana on Friday night, meets all of those criteria.

Fagbenle, a four-year WNBA veteran and long-time professional player in her native Great Britain, is a picture-perfect team player. The 32-year-old was originally under contract with the Indiana Fever as a replacement for striker NaLyssa Smith, but quickly made it into the rotation and at times into the starting lineup.

Fagbenle likely would have started more games if her season with the Fever had been hampered by three separate injuries (foot, shoulder, wrist) that limited her availability to 22 games in the regular season.

Still, in the games she played, she averaged 18.9 minutes off the bench and averaged 6.4 points and 4.7 rebounds per game. She also beat Smith in the Fever’s playoff elimination game against the Sun in October.

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But Fagbenle doesn’t care about any of that. She wants to win.

“It’s funny when people ask me, ‘How does it feel to start?’ “I don’t care about starting, I don’t care about coming off the bench, I want to win,” Fagbenle said of her playoff start during the Fever exit interviews. “That is my goal whenever I put on a jersey, no matter what team I play for. To me, people’s priorities are a little skewed when it comes to being on a team, like, ‘Oh my God, are you starting or not?’ “How many points are you going to get?” like I don’t care.”

That’s why she’s a perfect fit for the team Golden State wants to build.

Fagbenle was one of the first Fever players to match Fever rookie Caitlin Clark’s cross-court lobs, adding a new element to Indiana’s transition offense. With her 6-4 size, speed and versatility as a forward, she was dangerous for opposing defenses – enough that Nakase selected her to be an assistant in Las Vegas for the Aces’ defense in 2024.

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How former Indiana Fever Temi Fagbenle fits in with Golden State

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