![\"Two](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/052026_ZM_ValkyriesPreseasonMediaConference-06-930x620.jpg\")
Kiah Stokes (right) and Tiffany Hayes (left), WNBA players from the Golden State Valkyries, at the preseason media conference on May 5, 2026. Photo by Zoe Malen<\/p>\nKiah Stokes has never considered herself a vocal leader, so when Valkyries head coach Natalie Nakase told her she needs to command the defense, it didn\u2019t come naturally.<\/p>\n
Halfway through her first season, however, Stokes has found her voice, and that\u2019s a big reason they have the league\u2019s best defense.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur coaching staff basically tells me like, no, you need to tell them what you want them to do,\u201d Stokes said before the Valkyries game in Indiana on Wednesday. \u201c Like tell them to wait on screens, tell them you want this. Tell them you have a high pass or a bounce pass. Like just tell them. So for me, it\u2019s more like just vocalizing what I want. That\u2019s just new to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
After the Valkyries win against Atlanta on June 26, Stokes joked that the guards started listening to her. She could then handle defending the rim and hit a season-high seven blocks.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe way she protects the paint is great for us,\u201d said guard Janelle Salaun. \u201cWhenever someone gets past us we know we have Kiah behind us there. It helps you gain confidence in the defense.\u201d<\/p>\n
Stokes, 33, is making a case to be on the all-WNBA defensive team, a group of the league\u2019s top10 defenders.\u00a0 She is second in the WNBA with 1.8 blocks per game, the most she\u2019s had in a single season since her rookie year in 2015.<\/p>\n
Kiah Stokes (right) and Tiffany Hayes (left), WNBA players from the Golden State Valkyries, at the preseason media conference on May 5, 2026. Photo by Zoe Malen<\/p>\n
Stokes has made the all-defense team before \u2013 as a rookie in 2015 \u2013\u00a0 and has won three WNBA titles, and was known as an elite defender on each of them. But after a rough time fitting into the scheme early, her consistency since those first few games have given the Valkyries a reliable post presence.<\/p>\n
Even if she wasn\u2019t originally the plan.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe knew who she was,\u201d said head coach Natalie Nakase. \u201cI knew who she was too when we were in Vegas. You can see that type of trust that she has with our staff, but also her teammates..\u201d<\/p>\n
Stokes signed with the Valkyries expecting to be the backup center to Iliana Rupert, a 6-foot-4 post player who was more known for stretching the floor by shooting efficiently from 3-point range\u00a0 \u2013 a rarity for the position.<\/p>\n
\u201c(I\u2019ve been surprised) by how well she shoots the damn ball,\u201d said assistant coach Kasib Powell, who coaches the centers. \u201cdidn\u2019t know she was as talented as she is once she got here. So I think working with her, almost sometimes when she\u2019s doing things, you get goosebumps just realizing, wow, she had that much talent, and we get to get it out of her.\u201d<\/p>\n
As the backup, Stokes would have come in late in games to lock down defensively and play a similar style to how she has her whole career.<\/p>\n
Then, the team announced Rupert was pregnant and would miss the season. Just days before their first game, Stokes found herself the consistent starting center for the first time since 2024.<\/p>\n
\u201cI understand a little more of what my teammates like, what they don\u2019t like,\u201d Stokes said. \u201cI try to get them in the best positions for them to score as well. I definitely feel like now that we\u2019re almost halfway through the season, I have a little more idea of what they want from me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Stokes is even contributing offensively. In the first 10 years of her career between New York and Las Vegas, she never scored more than 6.9 points per game or took more than 6.2 attempts per game. This season, her 3.7 points and 3.3 shots per game are both her most since 2020 with New York.<\/p>\n
Her minutes in Las Vegas had gone down over the last three years and she averaged just 1.3 field goal attempts per game last year.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have the space, and so she understands that here we rely on you know quality spacing, but also attacking,\u201d Nakase said. \u201cSo if she\u2019s attacking or killing, and she\u2019s popping, that\u2019s the shot that we want. She had this in Vegas. It\u2019s just we\u2019re putting her in an environment and spaces where we\u2019re kind of just allowing her to shine into the shots that she already knew how to play.\u201d<\/p>\n
As a comfortable member of the Valkyries\u2019 starting contingent, Stokes is a big reason why the Valkyries have won eight games in a row.<\/p>\n
She has a shot at being recognized as one of the best defenders on the best defensive team in the league, and using her voice, now the guards even listen to her, too.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe was even telling the players, which I did not sign off on, to just pressure (opponents) and send them to the rim,\u201d Nakase said with a laugh. \u201cI\u2019m like, that\u2019s not how we play defense! But the trust she\u2019s earned from the players, that\u2019s been really cool.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kiah Stokes has never considered herself a vocal leader, so when Valkyries head coach Natalie Nakase told her…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":765745,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[99,26334,434],"class_list":["post-765744","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-sports","tag-valkyries","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/765744","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=765744"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/765744\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/765745"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=765744"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=765744"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=765744"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}