OAKLAND — Joe Lacob hesitated. Asked if it was a surprise the Golden State Valkyries won a WNBA title in just their second season, the team owner noted that he did say the expansion team would win within five years, not exactly in five years.
He nearly scoffed when asked if the best was still yet to come.
“We have the most amazing fans,” he said. “We’ve got everything it takes to do this again. And we are going to do it again.”
Lacob was complimentary of head coach Natalie Nakase, general manager Ohemaa Nyanin and team president Jess Smith when discussing the team’s unlikely rise to the top of the league in such a brief amount of time.
The Valkyries won the WNBA Finals in a dramatic Game 7 at Chase Center just four days prior.
“The best is yet to come, of course,” Lacob said. “Look what we did, what these ladies did. Everybody was really amazing. We can all be so proud of it.”
That the Valkyries were having a parade nearly three years to the day that the team was officially announced is remarkable in itself. Add in all the doubt and question marks around the Valkyries, if they had a true “star” or could score enough, and it made it all the more rewarding for players.
Kiah Stokes wore a shirt with ESPN’s midseason WNBA BPI, or Basketball Power Index, that showed the percentage they gave teams to win a title. The Valkyries were not in those top five; the Indiana Fever were atop the list.
Before their ceremony in Oakland that tipped off the parade, the Valkyries showed an edit of the seven-game Finals with each result.
“These women are gritty, they’re nasty, they’re aggressive, and it’s part of the Bay,” Nakase said.
Guards Kaitlyn Chen and Justė Jocytė sprayed champagne on fans whenever they could. Nakase and center Aminata Gueye got off their buses and signed autographs far earlier than they had to. Point guard Veronica Burton, the only player to start every Valkyries game ever, talked directly to the audience nearly the entire time.
“You have a very cute baby!” she yelled at one point in the middle of talking about the fans.
The San Francisco mayor’s office announced that around 400,000 people came out for the celebration.
That’s 22 Ballhallas that — reportedly — came out to support and see the team that brought the Bay its first title since the Warriors won the NBA title in 2022.
“It matters, everyone’s role, everyone’s love for each other, everyone’s trust in each other, it matters,” Nakase told the crowd in Oakland. “One minute, one second, they fully took on the role and they backed it because they wanted to do it for their teammates.”
One of the themes of Monday’s exit interviews was how nothing might be the same ever again, even if much of this Valkyries’ group returns.
Wednesday was truly a culmination of everything they did all season to get to this point. And they head into the offseason as first-time WNBA champions.
“I wanted to spring to my teammates,” said Williams of how it felt when they won Game 7. “I couldn’t wait to just hug these freaking goobers.”
Finding the game shouldn’t be the hardest part
SheScores is the women’s sports scoreboard, making it easy to follow women’s sports with scores, schedules, and where to watch — all in one place.
