With a Monday night loss to the Washington Mystics, the Golden State Valkyries’ nine-game win streak finally came to an end.
While they were rightfully disappointed to drop what could have been a 10th-straight win to an inconsistent Mystics team in the Bay, nine in a row is a feat that shouldn’t be ignored.
Here are the two biggest takeaways of the longest win streak in the WNBA this season:
1. Gabby Williams is Golden State’s most important, but not their only, scorer
One of the biggest concerns about Golden State, both last season and this one, has been the absence of a 1A scorer.
Scoring by committee has been an admirable strategy that has had limited historical success in American professional basketball. Teams need offensive hierarchies, and often struggle in postseason matchups when forced to find a hot hand.
For the Valkyries, Gabby Williams’ signing felt like some step towards a star player. Williams had never led a WNBA team in scoring—or even averaged more than 12 points per game in a WNBA season—but she had impressive experience leading France in scoring as they claimed the silver medal against Team USA in the 2024 Olympics. Optimistic Valkyries fans hoped that Williams could assume a similar role for their team.
In many ways, Williams is putting together a 1-to-1 replica of her scoring responsibilities in the last Olympics.
She’s averaging 14.8 points, a small step below her 15.5 Olympic average. The Valkyries next leading scorer, Janelle Salaün—who was also on that 2024 French Olympic team—is averaging 12.8 points. Williams isn’t by any means one of the league’s top scorers, but she’s the marquee performer amongst an equal opportunity cast. There’s no ensemble here.
During the nine-game win streak, Williams was actually averaging a touch under her season average, but still led her team in points. Averaging 80 points per game through a nine-game stretch without a single player averaging more than 14 points per game is an impressive feat of depth and involvement that would usually be ill-advised, but reigning Coach of the Year Natalie Nakase has found a way to make it work.
Williams may be the Valkyries frontwoman, but taking her away will be far from enough to stop their scoring momentum in meaningful games.
2. Yes, the Valkyries’ defense is the best in the league
As much of a feat as it is to average 80 points per game without any 20 point-per-game scorers, Golden State is a bottom-three scoring offense in the WNBA.
The reason that they’re 19-8, with the second most wins in the W, is their league-leading defense. They only allow 76 points per game, and their 102.2 defensive rating is best in the league by a point and a half.
Golden State’s offense isn’t as bad as it seems due to a generally slower pace, but their offensive rating still is only seventh. Their defensive excellence has carried their net rating to +7.7, meaning that they score almost eight points more than their opponents per 100 possessions. That’s second in the league to the Minnesota Lynx’s +11.2.
The Valkyries excel at limiting opponent shot quality (allowing the lowest 2-point percentage in the WNBA) and winning the possession battle. They only turn the ball over around 10 times per game, and while that’s a positive stat for their middling offense, it helps their defense not give up easy points in transition. Their net possessions, an estimate of how much winning the possession battle (offensive rebounds, turnovers) impacts their net rating, is second in the league at +5.7, only trailing Atlanta’s unbelievable +11.3.
Golden State’s defense still has room to improve, which is scary for a unit that has already held some of the league’s best teams to well below their season average. They foul too many shooters, which is an unfortunate byproduct of having the league’s best rim defense. They also still give up timely offensive rebounds that they need to clean up, especially against the Minnesota’s and Las Vegas’ of the league.
Golden State’s defense will need to keep their form at the top of the WNBA, but there are no signs that it won’t.
They sit at second in the league, and are looking at the chance to host a playoff series in the second season of their existence. They lost to the Lynx 2-0 in the first round of the playoffs last season, so a favorable matchup and homecourt advantage would be a big confidence boost to a group without significant playoff experience.
