From heartbreak to hope: Julie Vanloo’s rollercoaster week leads her to the Sparks
Golden State Valkyries guard Julie Vanloo (35) gets a pass off against Phoenix Mercury guard Monique Akoa Makani (8) during the second half of a WNBA basketball game Thursday, June 5, 2025, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
NEW YORK (AP) — Julie Vanloo stood outside Barclays Center 2 hours before tipoff of Los Angeles’ game against New York.
She was waiting to clear waivers and join her new team. Vanloo had a long journey, paying for her own flight overnight from San Francisco after getting cut by the Golden State Valkyries on Tuesday.
It takes 48 hours for players to clear waivers and she knew from her agent that the Sparks were interested.
So she made the trek across country to be with Los Angeles. When the clock struck 5, Sparks general manager Raegan Pebley called her new player and came upstairs to escort her into the arena.
“I was just sitting there watching the clock go very slow and I just was waiting until that moment at 5 for that phone call to say,” Vanloo said after the Sparks lost to New York 89-79. “Anything for the dream. I don’t mind that. I could have stayed there another hour.”
It has been a rollercoaster week for the 32-year-old, who helped Belgium win the EuroBasket title. She skipped the celebration in Belgium to fly back to San Francisco to rejoin the Valkyries only to be waived an hour after her arrival. She said after Thursday night’s game that she holds no ill-will to Golden State, just wished the team just called her instead of having her make the long trip from Europe to the west coast to cut her.
“I’m not here to throw stones at Golden State,” Vanloo said. “If you’re with your family and friends its a whole different story and not literally being alone on the other side of the world trying to figure things out.”
Vanloo said she’s been overwhelmed by everything that’s happened in the last week or so. She hasn’t had time to process anything. She credits her family for teaching her resiliency.
“I come from a family where we just keep going. Like, my mom lost her parents when she was 18 to a car crash. So she always says if nobody died, we can keep going,” Vanloo said. “And then my dad, he was an alcoholic for a very long time, and he’s been sober for 20 years. So the Vanloo family, we just keep going. We don’t sit down and be petty about it. We just keep going.”
The Sparks were happy to add her, giving the team another talented guard.
“I’m so happy, so excited for her,” said Sparks guard Julie Allemand, who played on the Belgium team with Vanloo . “First of all, happy to have her in the team. She’s going to help us a lot, but happy for her because, like, the last days were crazy for her.”
Allemand said she had been talking to her friend all week and had hoped the Sparks would pick her up after she was cut. She was texting with Vanloo in the final minutes leading up to her joining the team.
“It was crazy because, like, we were in the locker room and we were waiting for her,” Allemand said. “Like she was waiting outside.”
Sparks first-year coach Lynne Roberts was thrilled to get Vanloo. In the preseason she torched the Sparks for four 3-pointers in a what felt like under 2 minutes.
“When we heard that the Valkyries had waived her, I immediately said to our GM, let’s see if we can get her,” Roberts said.
Vanloo only played 2 minutes in the loss, but her time will increase as she gets used to her new team.
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