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Tiffany Hayes, Kaila Charles and the Golden State Valkyries celebrate their Game 7 win in the 2026 WNBA Finals.<\/p>\n
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) \u2014 Joe Lacob spoke so fast at times, overcome by emotion and in awe of what he had just witnessed along with thousands of others. Golden State\u2019s ecstatic owner was overjoyed by a rather improbable WNBA championship in the Bay Area.<\/p>\n
Valkyries point guard Veronica Burton was so happy she could barely speak at all. She wiped tears from her eyes.<\/p>\n
And Tiffany Hayes, well, this fiery 14-year veteran now with her first career WNBA title, brought out her loud, outspoken self amid the madness of celebration: \u201cThis is just what happens when you invest in women\u2019s sports. Valkyries, we here baby, we here, we here and we ain\u2019t going nowhere! Invest in women\u2019s sports, baby, let\u2019s go!\u201d<\/p>\n
In just their second year of existence, Burton, Hayes and the Valkyries claimed the second seed out of the regular season and made a remarkable run through the playoffs to take down the Atlanta Dream 68-63 in a magnificent first Game 7 of\u00a0WNBA Finals history Saturday night.<\/p>\n
\u201cAmazing, words can\u2019t describe this, man,\u201d said the 37-year-old Hayes, who came out of retirement to follow coach Natalie Nakase to the Valkyries.<\/p>\n
Golden State became the first expansion franchise to reach the playoffs in its inaugural season a year ago. The Valkyries instantly captured the hearts and souls of fans from every walk of life, color and age group with a wholesome, welcoming approach in an arena that became one of the best home scenes anywhere, \u201cBallhalla.\u201d<\/p>\n
Golden State has sold out every game at Chase Center from Day 1.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat I\u2019m so incredibly impressed by is honestly, at the end of the day, is \u2018Ballhalla\u2019 and our fan base,\u201d Lacob said. \u201cJust so behind our team. You just can\u2019t buy that, you can\u2019t. It\u2019s so incredible. I can\u2019t wait for the parade.\u201d<\/p>\n
There\u2019s a genuine love surrounding this team, as Finals MVP Gabby Williams put it after she scored 28 points in the second half to finish with 30 in the deciding game. She feels it everywhere she goes, seeing the support and Valkyries gear, and isn\u2019t the only one.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe feel that from not only the organization, teammates, the girls that they put together, but the city,\u201d said guard Kaila Charles, inserted into the starting lineup by Nakase after the Valkyries fell behind 2-1 in the best-of-seven series against Angel Reese and Atlanta.<\/p>\n
\u201cEver since I stepped into San Francisco, I came last year and in one week and they just accepted me, they cheered for me and I\u2019m able to find a home. That\u2019s just what the city embodies, and for us to be able to love each other I think that\u2019s what made us this successful and that\u2019s why we kept fighting out there until we were able to win it all. So we did this for the city because they pour into us and we want to pour back into them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lacob is immensely proud of President Jess Smith, general manager Ohemaa Nyanin and Nakase. Lacob promised three years ago, when the Bay Area was granted an expansion franchise, that his team would win a championship within five years.<\/p>\n
But in Year 2, is that amazing to him?<\/p>\n
\u201cOf course it is, what do you say? Two years, it\u2019s insane,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s just a lot of good decisions, a lot of good execution, a great coach. I said it when I got up there, I really want to give the credit to those three women. I give myself credit for hiring them, but other than that, they did it. They were all spectacular in their jobs; they deserve it.\u201d<\/p>\n
After finishing her postgame interview on the podium, Nakase took a moment to thank the media members one by one with a handshake, a show of class.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t score one basket,\u201d she said. \u201cThank you, I appreciate it. Without you guys, we wouldn\u2019t be (here).\u201d<\/p>\n
That\u2019s the kind of attention to detail Lacob loved from the moment he met her over a late breakfast in Las Vegas two years ago and knew Nakase was the best choice as coach.<\/p>\n
Then Nakase went out determined to bring home a title well sooner than what Lacob had declared.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m impatient. I\u2019m obsessive but it\u2019s because he pushes me,\u201d she said. \u201cHe pushes me. He leads. He says, \u2018Look, we\u2019re going to take care of and we are going to get all the resources you want,\u2019 and so that\u2019s what I\u2019m saying, is someone who invests in women\u2019s sports, this is a result.\u201d<\/p>\n
As the jubilant Valkyries gathered on the court in new WNBA CHAMPION T-shirts and hats, Lacob hoisted that championship trophy for his women\u2019s team at long last, a dream of his dating back three decades. Now he\u2019ll have to find a spot for it next to the four NBA titles his Golden State Warriors have won \u2014 and he insists he can \u201cabsolutely\u201d compare this to those special championships.<\/p>\n
And he\u2019s far from done. He has high hopes for a dynasty here.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat else would I be thinking about?\u201d Lacob said. \u201cOf course! We did very well with the Warriors; we think there\u2019s more to come.\u201d<\/p>\n
But planning for what\u2019s next might have to wait a few days \u2014 at least until after a victory parade along San Francisco\u2019s bay front Wednesday afternoon.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not thinking about that right now; I\u2019m just thinking about enjoying this a little bit,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m not really good at enjoying things for too long, but winning\u2019s fun. I don\u2019t know if you noticed.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tiffany Hayes, Kaila Charles and the Golden State Valkyries celebrate their Game 7 win in the 2026 WNBA…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":955119,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[629],"tags":[49,48,82,326442,326443,326444,630],"class_list":["post-955118","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-sports","tag-valkyries-championship","tag-valkyries-joe-lacob","tag-valkyries-warriors","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/955118","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=955118"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/955118\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/955119"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=955118"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=955118"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=955118"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}