Golden State Valkyries out to ‘make them feel us’ — Jordan Robinson talks WNBA

Basketball Wednesday

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They’d have been forgiven for some smiles. New York is undefeated so far this season, and had beaten Golden State two days prior, 95-67. This game wasn’t decided until the final seconds, with the Valkyries holding their own against a true title contender. A few days later, they did much the same against the also-unbeaten Minnesota Lynx, leading them at halftime. (I know schedule-making is so hard, truly, but we have to wait until July 30 — Commissioner’s Cup final notwithstanding — for the first scheduled Liberty-Lynx game of the season?!?)

So I asked Golden State head coach Natalie Nakase why her team didn’t seem satisfied with moral victories here in Year 1 of its existence, a campaign whose early returns augur well for the long-term success of the franchise in a variety of ways.

“We set our goals high, obviously we want to win every game, so that expectation then, obviously we’re going to be disappointed,” Nakase said, her staccato responses like an echo of the pace she wants her team to play at, as she sat at the podium in the road team’s media room at Barclays Center Thursday night. “And I want them to feel the pain. I told them: ‘Hey, let’s we’re going to have some short-term pain, you know, for long-term results.”

Teams built within the expansion rules simply cannot acquire the multiple long-term stars overnight required to contend for a championship in the WNBA, let alone the depth, so it is worth understanding what is possible here. Golden State needs to create a welcoming place for players to play, and the joy in the voices of WNBA veterans like Monique Billings and Veronica Burton as I caught up with them courtside Thursday evening was palpable.

“It’s been incredible,” Billings said. “From the top down, they just take such good care of us. I feel like a professional athlete here. All I have to worry about is basketball, and that’s the best place for me to be, mind/body/spirit. So I’m really excited, really grateful to be here, gaining the opportunity to play significant minutes here.”

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That’s another part of this equation. For all the talk of roster size — and it matters, every job matters — new teams mean not only a 13th or 14th spot on the end of a bench, but real minutes and chances to prove themselves against the best of the league. Billings is coming off the bench, but serving as a critical part of the Golden State rotation, and only the presence of Temi Fagbenle, averaging the most minutes per game of her career by far, is keeping her out of the starting lineup. (For now, this writer predicts.)

So it goes across the roster — Kayla Thornton, the most playing time per game since 2019. Janelle Salaün, a revelation who might have been stashed overseas by a different team. Burton, who I have long believed simply needed playing time to prove herself at the WNBA level, starting at the point and taking shots within the flow of the Golden State offense. She’s ninth in assist percentage in the league, third in steal percentage, and hasn’t taken a shot from 10-16 feet or 16-3pt line all season, an analytics nerd’s dream.

“This time last year, I was at home,” Burton said. “And so every moment that I’m needed in a gym, on a team, on a bus, whatever it may be, I’m grateful.”

Neither Burton nor Billings were in a mood to celebrate after the game, but they also understood the larger picture. That matters, both for Golden State as it establishes its identity, and for a franchise that will be at rough parity with the rest of the league the moment this season ends, thanks to the ongoing collective bargaining negotiations that pushed virtually everyone in the WNBA to sign contracts which end in 2025. Think players aren’t noticing those sell-out Chase Center crowds (largest average attendance in the WNBA, by the way) when they come through town?

Today’s culture-setters could easily find themselves on tomorrow’s Golden State team contending for a title, sooner than you think. And while Billings wants to win every game, she knows what this team needs to do to prove itself in Year 1 as well.

So while she excels at hyping up her teammates — talking up Burton for Most Improved Player pregame, for instance, or taking time in the postgame presser to tell Salaün how proud of her she was — Billings is also present to give the bigger picture view.

“Every trip is a business trip and just to focus,” Billings said. “And that comes from the vets and just showing rookies, younger players, how to be serious in this league, and how to take every game, one game at a time, but just to have that fight and make them feel us, regardless of the score.”

It’s early. But Billings and the Valkyries are making us all feel them already.

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