Tip off of Game 1 of the 2026 WNBA Finals demands a flashback to 2008 WNBA Finals.
To win the franchise’s third title, the Detroit Shock swept the San Antonio Silver Stars, 3-0, in the Finals, with Katie Smith, the Shock’s best player, capturing Finals MVP honors.
That’s significant to 2026, as Smith is the last best player on championship team to never become a regular-season MVP. The highest she ever finished in MVP voting was fourth, both in 2001 and 2003.
In the seasons since, every title team has featured a player who had or would win MVP. Diana Taurasi, Lauren Jackson, Maya Moore, Tamika Catchings, Candace Parker, Sylvia Fowles, Breanna Stewart, Elena Delle Donne and A’ja Wilson.
Not just star power, but superstar power, has been a prerequisite to postseason triumph.
Neither the Dream nor Valkyries have an MVP winner.
This season, the Dream’s Angel Reese and Rhyne Howard, finished seventh and eighth, respectively, in MVP voting, while the Valkyries’ Veronica Burton and Gabby Williams were 10th and 11th, respectively. Howard and Burton tied for ninth last season; Reese was 12th as a rookie in 2024.
Allisha Gray, whose status remains uncertain for Game 1, is the highest MVP finisher among the teams, matching Smith’s high point with a fourth-place finish last season. And when she was still a member of the Dream, Tiffany Hayes was sixth in MVP voting in 2018.
Does either team have a player that projects to eventually win the award? If so, historical trends would suggest that team should be the favorite.
Reese, arguably, is the best bet.
In addition an in-season ascent that indicates she has a higher upside than many assumed, the WNBA is still defined by post players. It is posts who have reached the heights required to shape the course of the league. A guard hasn’t been the MVP since Taurasi in 2009.
For now, as a future MVP for Reese or Howard or maybe the 20-year-old Valkyrie Justē Jocytē is far from certain, this MVP-less Finals looks to be anomaly.
Or, is it the new norm? The unexpected success of the Dream and the Valkyries this postseason, largely because they are perceived to lack that top-tier offensive star, has repeatedly posed that question.
Will the 2026 WNBA Finals mark a new era of WNBA basketball? Are teams built on some combination of defense, depth, athleticism and togetherness, rather those constructed around the overpowering brilliance of a star or two, becoming what wins in the WNBA?
Or, are both the Dream and Valkyries enjoying semi-charmed kinda runs that, while worthy of celebration, are not indications of a new world of winning basketball in the WNBA?
As this is just the second best-of-seven Finals series in league history, and hopefully the first that will extend beyond four games, Game 1 won’t answer those longer-vision questions.
Instead, it will be an opportunity to appreciate all the defense, depth, athleticism and togetherness on display—and maybe there also will be some more resonances with 2008.
Back then, the Shock took a step toward their eventual sweep with an eight-point win in San Antonio in Game 1.
Smith led the way with 25 points, going 4-for-8 from 3 and playing all 40 minutes. That sounds like something Saturday’s visitors, the Dream, would love to see from Howard, who seems due for a good shooting game against the Valkyries. (And it definitely will not be surprising if she goes all 40 minutes.) Detroit also benefited from 24 points and seven rebounds from Taj McWilliams-Franklin, which would be a pretty nice Game 1 from Reese. Detroit also was spurred by the services of a speedy point guard in Deanna Nolan; however, her 10-point, five-rebound and four-assist Game 1 seems too modest for Jordin Canada, who, based on what she has accomplished in these playoffs, might be the future MVP among the bunch.
In defeat, the Silver Stars—like this year’s Valkyries, the top-ranked defense in the league in the regular season—were captained by Becky Hammon. (Hammon, of course, is the head coach of the Las Vegas Aces, the organizational daughters of the Silver Stars who were swept in the semis by these very Valkyries.)
Hammon tallied 13 points, five assists and two steals in Game 1. Those stats, plus Hammon’s buoyant style, calls to mind Kaitlyn Chen. Although she will not be in the starting lineup, head coach Natalie Nakase could rely on Chen to play starter-level minutes, as she has already done during these playoffs. San Antonio also had three more players score in double-figures, something that seems more than likely for this Golden State group. Williams could reprise the Sophia Young-Malcolm role—an elite athlete with a burst that translate into box-score stuffing production. Young-Malcolm led the Silver Stars with 21 points, while adding nine boards, four assists, a steal and a block. Such production has been a Williams specialty in these playoffs.
What are your Game 1 predictions?
Which team do you expect to establish an edge? Who do you see delivering a big-time performance? Let us know in the comments.
