The Golden State Valkyries enjoyed a historic season.
Beginning the season without any stars on the roster, the expansion team managed to make the playoffs as the No. 8 seed through defense and determination.
They were first in opponent points per game, allowing a league-low 76.3, thanks to a zone defense developed by head coach Natalie Nakase, the 2025 WNBA Coach of the Year who deserves that award and more for the job she did, which, in addition to taking this team all the way to the postseas0n, included unlocking the latent star potential of 2025 Most Improved Player Veronica Burton.
Again, the Valkyries didn’t have stars (at least when the season began), but they had incredible chemistry. But as has been proven by in sports time and time again, chemistry is unsustainable.
Suddenly players start to complain about minutes and touches. They want exposure, marketing deals and individual glory. That’s why Burton winning the Most Improved Player award might be a curse disguised as a blessing. Could other players start complaining about the individual praise that their teammate is receiving? It must be stressed that there are no rumors about players being disgruntled, but these things tend to reveal themselves over time, especially during difficult stretches.
Then again, maybe such worries are misguided.
General manager Ohemaa Nyanin’s masterstroke was building a multicultural roster, with players who learned the ropes in Australia, Belgium, England, France and Italy, where basketball is more about the team concept and playing the game “the right way” than the more individualized culture of American basketball. Thanks to the roster’s composition, Nakase was able to get the players to buy in almost immediately. Seeing players as talented as All-Rookie selection Janelle Salaün or as accomplished as Cecilia Zandalasini sacrificing their numbers for the improvement of the team allowed others to accept the leadership structure and trust in Nakase’s vision.
However, with the success that they enjoyed, are there things that the Valkyries could’ve done better?
Sure. Their most evident flaw in their first season was scoring. Letting go of Julie Vanloo, the point guard who could get other players in the positions to score (she averaged 4.1 assists per game during her time with Golden State), wasn’t a good decision, despite it allowing the team to further unleash Burton’s playmaking and give more minutes to rookie Kaitlyn Chen. The decision make sense in the long run, but in the short term, taking into account Vanloo’s international experience, she could have tilted the balance in Game 2 of their first-round series against the No. 1-seed Minnesota Lynx. The Valkyries would probably still have gotten eliminated, but they could have forced a Game 3 and put up an even more serious fight.
This offseason, expect the Valkyries to get a scorer. A quick look at the long list of upcoming unrestricted free agents list presents a bevy of options. They could go with someone like Marina Mabrey or the player they should’ve tried harder to recruit last offseason in Kelsey Plum. In such a scenario where Plum chooses to leave Southern California for the Bay Area, she would reunite with Nakase and share the backcourt with skilled defenders who would allow her to focus on her shooting.
The Valkyries proved that they are a competent organization, which should make bringing in a star scorer easier. If they do that while retaining their core players, the Valks may be a serious problem for the rest of the league in 2026.
