The Golden State Valkyries have waived rookie forward Marta Suarez.

In a surprise move on Saturday, the Valkyries cut their roster down to 13 players. Janelle Salaun, Iliana Rupert, Cecilia Zandalasini and Kaila Charles all returned from their overseas season on Thursday, giving the Valkyries close to their complete team.

But after trading No. 8 overall pick Flau’jae Johnson to Seattle for Suarez, picked at No. 16 — the first selection of the second round — it was thought Suarez was likely to make the Valkyries roster.

That changed during training camp when it started to become clear that point guard Kaitlyn Chen seemed poised to make the regular-season team for positional reasons.

“Everyone has been impressive from top to bottom, learning, wanting to be here, challenging each other every single day,” head coach Natalie Nakase told reporters on Saturday, just hours before the cut. “So, it’s definitely going to be a hard decision. But at the end of the day, we’ve got to pick the best 14 (players) who fit together. Yeah, it’s really going to be tough.”

The team also cut center Mariella Fasoula, forward Cate Reese, and guards Ashlon Jackson, Ndjakalenga Mwenentanda and Miela Sowah.

But after the cut, what’s next for Suarez and the Valkyries?

What does it mean to be waived?

Now that Suarez is on waivers, any other WNBA team could claim her and add her contract to their roster within the next 48 hours.

If no teams make a claim, she will become a free agent and be free to potentially sign for one of the Valkyries’ developmental spots.

Since training camp contracts are not protected, the Valkyries will not owe Suarez her $270,000 rookie contract salary.

Any team that claims Suarez could also offer her a spot on the developmental roster, too.

Could Suarez be on the developmental roster?

The Valkyries can bring Saurez back as one of their two developmental players, but other teams now have 48 hours to place a claim and add Suarez’s rookie-scale deal.

If she clears waivers, she could play 12 games for the Valkyries in the regular season and she would earn $6,000 plus whatever salary would be for one game on the rookie minimum, none of which would count against the salary cap.

She might even get a chance to play in the first few games, too; Juste Jocyte is not expected to be with the team for a few games into the season while her Spanish season wraps up, and Kate Martin is yet to be re-evaluated for a grade-two quad strain that could keep her out.

Without access to the new CBA, it’s unclear if Jocyte’s contract can be suspended while her season finishes away from the team, but if it is like last year’s, that is not the case.

It’s also not a given that the Valkyries would sign Suarez (or Jackson) to one of the developmental spots if someone else is available they like. For example, Minnesota signed Emese Hof to a developmental spot on Saturday instead of any of the rookies they cut from training camp during the week.

“I'm going for 14 (roster spots),” Nakase said on Tuesday. “If that was an option, I'm definitely going 14. I want them to be paid. They're doing just as much work as (players) one through 12, yeah? So if that's the case, then I think they all should be paid.”

How does this change the Valkyries’ trade decision?

If Suarez ends up elsewhere, this could be the second consecutive season where the Valkyries don’t get any contributions from their draft picks in the first two rounds. Last year, Jocyte never played for the WNBA squad despite being selected in the first round and they cut Shyanne Sellers in training camp.

This year, if Suarez and Jackson aren’t with the team, it could mean two years of wasted draft picks. Since Johnson seems likely to be an integral part of Seattle’s roster as just a rookie, that would be worth evaluating.

Valkyries general manager Ohemaa Nyanin has still not commented publicly about the trade itself since the night of the trade when she mostly declined to address it.

“I'm going to take a beat to be able to eloquently give a response. I don't have a lot of details to share.” Nyanin said that night. “One, because I'm exhausted. Two, because I want to be very thoughtful when I'm talking about other humans and their basketball abilities and how they would or would not show up for our squad.”

If Suarez gets claimed or ends up elsewhere and the Valkyries gave up Johnson and a second rounder for essentially nothing, it will be hard to avoid the questions.