{"id":733346,"date":"2026-06-29T18:37:15","date_gmt":"2026-06-29T18:37:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/733346\/"},"modified":"2026-06-29T18:37:15","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T18:37:15","slug":"how-the-valkyries-have-made-the-leagues-best-guards-disappear","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/733346\/","title":{"rendered":"How the Valkyries have made the league\u2019s best guards disappear"},"content":{"rendered":"

SAN FRANCISCO \u2014 Sabrina Ionescu<\/a> couldn\u2019t escape.<\/p>\n

Every curl off a screen, a black jersey was already there. Every jab step she took, a defender didn\u2019t bite. She\u2019d set up shop off the ball, feeling for space, and find a hand pressed against her chest and a set of eyes locked on her like she owed somebody some money.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The sharpshooting point guard who makes a living off deception, off angles and off making defenders look silly couldn\u2019t find a sliver of daylight. She couldn\u2019t get downhill. She couldn\u2019t even get a clean look at the basket.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Golden State Valkyries<\/a> made what was a dream Bay Area homecoming for the Miramonte High alum<\/a> into an on-court nightmare.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"NewNew York Liberty\u2019s Sabrina Ionescu (20) scores a 3-point basket against Golden State Valkyries\u2019 Veronica Burton (22) in the third quarter at the Chase Center in San Francisco, Calif., on Sunday, June 28, 2026. (Nhat V. Meyer\/Bay Area News Group)<\/p>\n

Her final stat line: Nine points on 3-of-10 shooting in a 76-67 loss<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t a fluke.\u00a0<\/p>\n

All season, the Valkyries have made a habit of turning the league\u2019s most dangerous guards into nonfactors. Kelsey Plum, Caitlin Clark, Paige Bueckers, Kahleah Copper and now Ionescu have been swallowed up by a defensive identity that makes it a point to stop the opponent\u2019s best ball handlers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI think they just take pride on that side of the ball,\u201d Valkyries coach Natalie Nakase said of her team\u2019s guards. \u201cThose are the players we intentionally went after. When we talk about deep roster and strength in numbers, it\u2019s because you need to be able to sustain guarding, a Sabrina, a Paige, a Kelsey Plum. I think it\u2019s heart and hustle.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Valkyries have the second-best defensive rating in the WNBA (102.6) and it starts with arguably three of the best point-of-attack defenders in the league under one roof: Kaila Charles, Gabby Williams and Veronica Burton.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Each of them relentless. Each of them different.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"GoldenGolden State Valkyries\u2019 Kaila Charles (6) takes a shot against the New York Liberty in the second half at the Chase Center in San Francisco, Calif., on Sunday, June 28, 2026. (Nhat V. Meyer\/Bay Area News Group)<\/p>\n

Charles is the enforcer. The 6-foot guard has the length and physicality to make even the most confident ball handlers feel small. She gets into their body \u2013 chest to chest, hip to hip \u2013 and uses her defensive IQ to cut off angles before they develop.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Williams, an all-defensive first-team selection last year, is a disrupter. She appears out of nowhere, oftentimes from angles that don\u2019t even make sense, and suddenly the ball is gone and she\u2019s on the other end laying the ball up. Her anticipation is almost unfair as a product of quick instincts wrapped inside one of the most physically gifted frames in the league.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And then there\u2019s Burton, who the team often refers to as the \u201chead of the snake.\u201d She is a pressure cooker personified \u2013 someone who stays relentlessly attached to her assignment from the moment they cross half court. She\u2019s a brick wall to try to pass and her quick hands make it hard for the craftiest of guards to maneuver.\u00a0<\/p>\n

If Charles takes your space and Williams takes your confidence, Burton is the one that will take your will. By the fourth quarter, guards who have been through the trio\u2019s cycle all night will start to look like they\u2019d rather be anywhere else.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The resume speaks for itself.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Before Ionescu, it was Bueckers who was held to an inefficient 5-of-13 for 15 points on June 17. Caitlin Clark, the face of the WNBA\u2019s new era, managed 16 points on 3-for-12 from the field a month ago. Phoenix\u2019s Kahleah Copper, one of the most explosive scorers in the league, has averaged 10 points on 26% shooting from the field in two matchups. Even former Valkyrie Carla Leite, who is in the mix for an All-Star selection and one of the front runners for most improved player of the year, got off just six shots and finished with 10 points when Portland rolled through the Bay Area in early June.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"GoldenGolden State Valkyries\u2019 Gabby Williams (1) is fouled by New York Liberty\u2019s Breanna Stewart (30) in the second quarter at the Chase Center in San Francisco, Calif., on Sunday, June 28, 2026. (Nhat V. Meyer\/Bay Area News Group)<\/p>\n

But what makes the Valkyries genuinely dangerous defensively isn\u2019t just Burton, Williams and Charles. It\u2019s what comes next.<\/p>\n

When Nakase goes to her bench, the intensity doesn\u2019t dip. Veteran Tiffany Hayes slides in and picks up right where the starters left off, bringing the same pressure, the same discipline, the same pride on that end. And then there\u2019s Kaitlyn Chen, the second-year point guard who overcomes some of her athletic deficiencies by picking up 94 feet and always seemingly knows where to be.<\/p>\n

And even if somehow you get past the first line of defense, the Valkyries have a backline that consists of players like Kiah Stokes and Laeticia Amihere, the former being one of the league leaders in blocks.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI think people give me and Gabby a lot of credit, but then we have a player like Kaila and we have players like (Tiffany Hayes), and we have one after the next that can come in and defend,\u201d Burton said. \u201cI think it\u2019s really easy to give us all that, but it genuinely is our entire team. We have a lot of people that take pride on the defensive end, and a lot of really incredible defenders but it allows us to get into people. A lot of guards like to shoot threes, and it\u2019s hard to get into them because a lot of teams don\u2019t have a back line that they can rely on, but we do.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"GoldenGolden State Valkyries\u2019 Tiffany Hayes (15) celebrates a play against the New York Liberty in the third quarter at the Chase Center in San Francisco, Calif., on Sunday, June 28, 2026. (Nhat V. Meyer\/Bay Area News Group)<\/p>\n

The defense comes in waves. Quarter after quarter of constant defensive pressure.\u00a0<\/p>\n

By the time the buzzer sounds \u2013 win or loss \u2013 opposing guards are tired and beaten down. The game plan is simple, and it works because everyone in the locker room has bought into the same gameplan: make it hard on every possession for 40 minutes and let depth do its damage.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no drop off from Veronica to then Kaila to Tiffany Hayes,\u201d Nakase said. \u201cThen we\u2019re throwing Gabby on them, so just again being able to utilize so many guards. And then you got Kia, you got (Laeticia Amihere), you got (Kayla Thornton), you got (Janelle Sala\u00fcn). It\u2019s just a lot of players that play with a lot of heart and hustle.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"GoldenGolden State Valkyries\u2019 Kayla Thornton (5) celebrates her 3-point basket and foul with the bench against the New York Liberty in the third quarter at the Chase Center in San Francisco, Calif., on Sunday, June 28, 2026. (Nhat V. Meyer\/Bay Area News Group)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN FRANCISCO \u2014 Sabrina Ionescu couldn\u2019t escape. Every curl off a screen, a black jersey was already there.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":733347,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[2356,99,434],"class_list":["post-733346","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-california","tag-sports","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/733346","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=733346"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/733346\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/733347"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=733346"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=733346"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=733346"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}