Athletics

The Success of the Bay’s First WNBA Team

By Luca Leone ‘27 in Fall 2025

The San Francisco Golden State Valkyries’ first season in the WNBA has been nothing short of extraordinary. The team joined the WNBA this past season, as an expansion team. Being an expansion team, they acquired their players through an expansion draft, where the Valkyries picked one player from each of the existing teams, with most teams protecting their best six players. Because of this, the Valkyries’ roster was somewhat of a ragtag group of people, all brought together under unusual circumstances. Despite this, they made history this year by becoming the first expansion team to make the  playoffs in their very first season. The squad’s leading scorer during the regular season was guard Veronica Burton who averaged 11.9 points per game (PPG). This was a career high in PPG, and because of this she was awarded the 2025 WNBA Most Improved Player, as well as being awarded WNBA All-Defensive Second Team. This is an accolade recognizing the league’s top ten defenders as voted by coaches based on steals, blocks, and overall defensive impact, with the First Team featuring the top five and the Second Team the next five. This Valkyries season was a huge chance for players like Burton who have been overlooked by their previous teams; as part of an expansion team, they were originally undervalued, but were given another shot at a career in the WNBA. It opened the stage for young players to take the reins of the team, while at the same time was an opportunity for old veterans to prove they still could hang in the league. For example, thirty-three-year-old center Temi Fagbenle averaged 7.4 points, 4.9 rebounds, and 1.6 assists. All career highs. Despite having all the reason in the world to have a bad season, with expectations being low, the Valkyries soared, and proved that great players just need an opportunity to shine. The story of the Valkyries’ season highlights an overarching theme surrounding women's basketball today, which is that women with serious skills are all over the globe. Especially with social media, women's hoops has skyrocketed in popularity, and there are many women's basketball athletes who are reinventing the narrative about girls' ball. The sport is changing for the better, and the Valkyries are a prime example of that change.