The Golden State Valkyries will open the WNBA Finals at Chase Center on Saturday, reaching the championship series in only their second season. This rapid ascent fulfills the bold promise made by owner Joe Lacob, who vowed three years ago that the expansion franchise would win a title within five years.
When Lacob announced the Valkyries as the league’s first new team since 2008, many viewed his claim as overly ambitious. The franchise had yet to hire a general manager or coach, and there were no players on the roster. Lacob, who purchased the team for a then-record $50 million expansion fee in 2023 and has owned the NBA’s Golden State Warriors since 2010, said at the time, “We will win a WNBA championship in the first five years of this franchise.”
The Warriors’ transformation under Lacob lent weight to his statement. Before his ownership, Golden State had losing records but went on to win five NBA titles, including four during the Steph Curry era. Yet even Lacob did not expect the Valkyries to make the Finals this soon.
“It’s just a perfect confluence of events and people and experience and timing,” Lacob said this week. “I’m not going to sit here and tell you that I am shocked by this, I’m not. I think all the ingredients were there and I made that prediction knowingly and understood what I was saying. Now to do it in two years, no one could sit here and tell you that would be something they would predict. No one, not even me.”
The franchise’s leadership has embraced Lacob’s high standards from the start. When Natalie Nakase was hired as head coach in 2024, she recalled their first conversation. “Like the first 10-15 minutes, he’s just telling me, ‘I’m about achieving goals,’” she said. “And he’s like, ‘What I do is I set my goal really, really, really high, and then I create a plan and then I work obsessively toward that plan, over and over again until I get that goal.’”
Nakase responded with equal determination. “I just like the challenge that he wants to be No. 1,” she said. “That’s what sports is about. That’s the beauty of sports, is that you want to be No. 1. You want to be a champion. No one goes back and is like, ‘Well, in five years, I want to be No. 2.’ Nobody remembers second place. Everyone remembers the champion, so that’s what drives me.”
General manager Ohemaa Nyanin, hired in 2024 to oversee basketball operations, echoed the same focus on winning. “Winning is the foundation of this organization and the Golden State WNBA team’s staff will have that same spirit,” she said. “Why not us? It will be us … To have all the high expectations, all the pressure. Give it to us in the most authentic way and we will be sure to meet you at the top.”
The Valkyries set a record last season for wins by an expansion team with 23 and became the first expansion side to make the playoffs in their inaugural year. They exited in the first round but their style and culture attracted players. Gabby Williams, a key offseason signing, said she was drawn by what she saw at Chase Center last season. Williams had spent two years with Seattle Storm, a team with more individual talent, but never advanced past the first playoff round.
“Just realizing how far culture gets you, that’s what made me interested to see what is this formula,” Williams said. “And then when I had my free agency meeting, I was like, ‘Oh, I get it.’ … I believed in it from the beginning and I said it from the day that I got here that I believed this was a team that could contend.”
Williams is the only lottery pick on the Valkyries’ roster, which highlights the team’s initial success without relying heavily on star power. Lacob gave Nyanin the freedom to build the team her way rather than chasing big-name free agents or signing expensive players.
In a recent call with reporters, Nyanin called Lacob her “favorite boss” and said he lets her and Nakase “lead with our heart and lead with strategy and our experiences.”
Kiah Stokes, who joined Golden State after winning three championships in four seasons with the Las Vegas Aces, praised the Valkyries’ clear vision. “Shoutout to the Valkyries organization, because they had this vision from the start, and to be able to see it come to fruition already in year two is pretty amazing and pretty special,” she said. “We have a great group, it’s really special, and we’re looking forward to the Finals.”
The Valkyries face the Atlanta Dream in the WNBA Finals, with Game 1 set for Saturday at Chase Center.
According to CBS.