Rising Fast: How the Valkyries Shocked the WNBA

No one thought this was ever possible. Back in July, experts pegged them as “the biggest liability” and gave them just a 3% chance of making the playoffs. Now, the Golden State Valkyries have done the unthinkable, becoming the first expansion team in WNBA history to clinch a postseason spot in their debut year. This isn’t just a feel-good story; it’s a bona fide contender.

The Valkyries punched their ticket with an 84-80 win over Paige Bueckers and the Dallas Wings on Thursday night in Ballhalla. Trailing by 13 with just 4 minutes left in the 3rd quarter, Carla Leite and Janelle Salaun injected energy into the game, tallying 11 of the next 15 points and drawing the team within four by the period’s close.

Carla Leite has been doing this all season; no wonder they call her “The Leite Show.” This revenge game was poetic justice: drafted by Dallas in the first round of the 2024 draft, then unceremoniously cut, Leite delivered 19 second-half points, shooting 7-of-12. She now averages 14.7 points, 4.9 assists, and a 59.3% true shooting percentage, landing her in the 82nd percentile among WNBA guards.

Veronica Burton has also transformed her game and become the face of the franchise. Once a below-average shooter who struggled with turnovers, she’s now an ultra-efficient floor general, shooting 36% from deep, ranking 5th in the league in assist-to-turnover ratio (3.1), and sitting top-10 in defensive win shares. Burton is a lock for an All-WNBA nod and a leading candidate for Most Improved Player. After Thursday’s win, head coach Natalie Nakase praised her with, “I call her now ‘Unfazed.’ Her name is Vee ‘Unfazed’ Burton. She knows exactly what we need to close games and who to attack.”

The Valkyries’ fan base has also been nothing short of extraordinary. Their games have felt electric from the start, and it shows. “Loud. That’s exactly what I wanted... the roars, the screams, the shouts,” Head Coach Natalie Nakase said after their home debut. And more recently, after the win over the Liberty, Kate Martin added: “The fact that our crowd stayed with it... It really gives us an extra boost of energy… They are the Sixth Man of the Year for sure.”

But the real architect behind this story is Nakase herself. She’s taken an expansion squad with zero preseason expectations and turned them into a 23-18, top-5 defensive team (97.6 DRtg). Under her leadership, Golden State has become one of the league’s deadliest perimeter units, shooting 37.8% from three, the second-best mark in the WNBA this year and among the top three ever for a rookie expansion team. Plus, the Valkyries rank in the 88th percentile defending pick-and-roll ball-handlers, a scheme Nakase crafted to leverage the team’s athletic strengths. Simply put: no coach has exceeded expectations more this season.

From a projected bottom-feeder to playoff-bound in their very first year, the Valkyries have already rewritten history. They weren’t supposed to be here, but they are now. This is not a Cinderella team; they are not done. The Valkyries will make noise in the playoffs.