The 2025 WNBA season has been a year of incredible accomplishments, with multiple teams setting franchise records for wins as the league expanded to 44 regular-season games. Of course, the Golden State Valkyries have arguably been the best story in the league this season.
With just two games left in the regular season, the Valkyries hold a 23-19 record, which is the sixth-best in the league. Last week, the Valkyries even clinched their spot in the playoffs, officially becoming the first expansion team in WNBA history to make the playoffs in their inaugural season.
̶E̶x̶p̶a̶n̶s̶i̶o̶n̶ ̶T̶e̶a̶m̶ ̶ Playoff Team.
In our very first season, the Valkyries have clinched a playoff berth — the first expansion team in WNBA history to do it.
2025 Playoffs | @aboutKP pic.twitter.com/swCY2hGEqB
— Golden State Valkyries (@valkyries) September 5, 2025
As the WNBA enters a new expansion era, with two teams set to start in 2026 and three more teams to be added by 2030, the Valkyries have set the bar very high. In fact, nobody really expected the Valkyries to be this good.
After spending three seasons as an assistant with the Las Vegas Aces, Natalie Nakase became the head coach of the Valkyries, and has cemented herself as this year’s Coach of the Year frontrunner. On top of that, the Valkyries had a very intriguing expansion draft and free agency, adding players like Kayla Thornton, Veronica Burton, Tiffany Hayes, Monique Billings, and more to construct a well-rounded roster.
Jun 14, 2025; San Francisco, California, USA; Golden State Valkyries head coach Natalie Nakase talks to guard Veronica Burton (22) in the third quarter at Chase Center. Mandatory Credit: Eakin Howard-Imagn Images / Eakin Howard-Imagn Images
Regardless of how well they drafted or how great Nakase turned out to be as a first-year head coach, Golden State’s expectations heading into the 2025 season were as low as possible.
Before the season, ESPN’s WNBA experts ranked every team and projected how the standings would shake out. Of course, they ranked the Valkyries last, with a projection of just 15.7 wins and an 11.8% chance to make the playoffs.
ESPN’s “bold prediction” for the Valkyries did not even include them having a successful season; it was simply that they “won’t have the worst record in the league.” Of course, it is hard for anybody to predict a first-year expansion team to see any type of success, but the Valkyries were able to prove everybody wrong. On top of that, their fans showed out for every game, selling out each of their 22 home outings and breaking the WNBA attendance record.
22 for 22 ✨🪽
We’ve set the all-time @WNBA record for total (397,408) and average (18,064) attendance in a regular season, selling out each of our 22 home games.
Thank you, Valks Fam! pic.twitter.com/KKCPabapyG
— Golden State Valkyries (@valkyries) September 7, 2025
This is the WNBA’s first expansion team in 17 years, so it really should not be too shocking that they are legitimately good. The WNBA has more talent than ever, and they have desperately needed more teams in the league for those talented players to have chances to play for expansion franchises.