As a general rule, expansion teams aren't supposed to be very good right away. Contention usually requires years of losing seasons to accumulate high draft picks and talent. The Golden State Valkyries apparently missed that memo. Barely two seasons into their existence, they are headed to the WNBA Finals against the Atlanta Dream, with Game 1 set for 12:30 p.m. Saturday.
To get there, the Valkyries closed out the Las Vegas Aces on the road. The matchup began as a huge mismatch in team pedigree, since the Aces had won three of the past four WNBA titles while Golden State did not exist two years ago. Instead, it became a changing of the guard, with the league's new contender sweeping aside one of its greatest dynasties.
Previously, expansion teams had posted an average winning percentage of .306 with a minus-8.4 net rating. But the league had not added a team since the Atlanta Dream in 2008, so a backlog of talented players was building up. The Valkyries tapped into that reservoir, posting the second-best first-year winning percentage (.523) of any WNBA club and the best expansion-year net rating (plus-1.8) and Elo rating (1494).
Their rise continued in 2026. Golden State had the best regular season for a second-year team by all available measures of team quality, finishing with the second-best record in the league and the best net rating overall. After a 13-7 start through June, the Valkyries rattled off a league-best 19-5 run from July 1 onward, pushing them into serious title contention.
Source: ESPN General · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing