{"id":834283,"date":"2026-09-02T15:44:22","date_gmt":"2026-09-02T15:44:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/834283\/"},"modified":"2026-09-02T15:44:22","modified_gmt":"2026-09-02T15:44:22","slug":"with-playoffs-approaching-wnba-hits-pause-for-fiba-world-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/834283\/","title":{"rendered":"With playoffs approaching, WNBA hits pause for FIBA World Cup"},"content":{"rendered":"

There won\u2019t be another Valkyries game until Sept. 18, an oddity in the WNBA schedule thanks to a nearly three-week break as the entire league goes on pause for the FIBA Women\u2019s World Cup tournament in Berlin, Germany. <\/p>\n

Instead of blocks, steals and three-point daggers, Ballhalla hosted the Pokemon world championship this weekend, and the \u201990s band Weezer will perform there in early September.<\/p>\n

The Women\u2019s World Cup, the biggest international women\u2019s basketball tournament this year, will run from Sept. 4 to 13, with the winner getting a berth in the 2028 Olympics.<\/p>\n

There are 16 teams participating in four groups:<\/p>\n

Group A: Spain, Germany, Mali, Japan<\/p>\n

Group B: Korea, Nigeria, Hungary, France<\/p>\n

Group C: Australia, Puerto Rico, Belgium, Turkey<\/p>\n

Group D: USA, China, Czechia, Italy<\/p>\n

Who is going?<\/p>\n

Along with Head coach Natalie Nakase, who will be on the coaching staff for Team USA, there are four international Valkyries players heading overseas: Gabby Williams and Janelle Sala\u00fcn (France), Cecilia Zandalasini (Italy) and Miela Sowah (Australia).\u00a0<\/p>\n

These are some of the team\u2019s most utilized players as well as future prospects.<\/p>\n

Williams became the Valkyries\u2019 first-ever all-star starter this season, averaging a team-high 14.4 points per game and is a candidate for the WNBA\u2019s defensive player of the year award. <\/p>\n

She is part of the formidable French team along with Sala\u00fcn, who made WNBA history as the highest-scoring reserve for total points in a season, eclipsing the previous record of 457 points.<\/p>\n

\"\"Basketball player Janelle Sala\u00fcn at the Valkyries versus Mercury game on June 9, 2026. Photo by Zoe Malen.<\/p>\n

Sowah, who is on a developmental contract with the Valkyries and scored her first WNBA points on Sunday night in their win against the Portland Fire, will join Australia to replace the injured Sami Whitcomb.<\/p>\n

In addition, Valkyries third round pick Kokoro Tanaka, who hasn\u2019t signed with the team yet, will play for Japan. Tanaka became the second Japanese player ever drafted in the WNBA, and first since Mikiko Hagiwara in 1997. She is spending this season overseas with the Eneos Sunflowers in the Women\u2019s Japan Basketball League but the Valkyries have rights to her.<\/p>\n

What does the tournament mean?<\/p>\n

The World Cup champion earns a spot in the 2028 Olympics, while the second and third-place finishers have to settle for medals. That is, unless Team USA finishes first. The U.S. team is guaranteed to qualify for the Olympics since they are being held in Los Angeles. If the U.S. wins, the silver medal team would clinch a place in the Olympics too.<\/p>\n

What are the other Valkyries players doing?<\/p>\n

Kiah Stokes, for one, is going to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love a good beach,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m just gonna take some time away, and then we have some time to work while, I guess, some of our players are still playing, but we\u2019ll have time for the rest of our team to get in the gym, get some reps in, and get ready for the playoffs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Practices will begin again on Sept. 8, although the players who go all the way to the World Cup finals might not be back until a few days after the tournament ends at the end of that week.\u00a0<\/p>\n

With such a tight turnaround, it wouldn\u2019t be surprising if some players take that first game off, especially since the Valkyries have already clinched the postseason.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey deserve a break because, I mean, we just had three (games) in six (days)\u201d Nakase said. \u201cNow we\u2019re on three games in four days, so they deserve a break, and we want them to reset, clear their minds, get reset for their bodies, and then they\u2019ll come back, and we\u2019ll do like a mini training camp, which our coaches are very excited to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

What happens after the break?<\/p>\n

The Valkyries have just four games left in the regular season: Back-to-back home games against Portland and Seattle on Sept. 18 and 19, respectively, and then a final two-game road trip back to Portland on Sept. 22 and down to Los Angeles on Sept. 24.<\/p>\n

After that, it\u2019s the playoffs, and the Valkyries are more than likely to host Game 1 of their series. If they stay in second place in the WNBA standings, they will play the seventh seed. Right now, that is Washington, who the Valkyries are 2-1 against this season.<\/p>\n

Where and when to watch<\/p>\n

Nakase\u2019s loaded USA roster will face Zandalasini and Italy on Sept. 6. None of the other Valkyries players face off in the first round.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s gonna be tough, but everybody\u2019s gonna do our best,\u201d Zandalasini said about playing Team USA. \u201cBut that\u2019s what we do, and I\u2019m really excited to represent Italy. So that\u2019s the most important thing for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"ABasketball player, Cecilia Zandalasini, at the Valkyries versus Tempo game on August 2, 2026. Photo by Zoe Malen.<\/p>\n

That game will begin at 11:45 a.m. on TNT and HBO Max.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sala\u00fcn and Williams play for France on Sept. 4. They face Hungary at noon Pacific time, and the game can be watched live on truTV and HBO Max.<\/p>\n

All three of Australia\u2019s group play games are at 2:30 a.m. Pacific, but folks who want to watch Sowah will get their first chance on Sept. 4 when they face Puerto Rico on HBO Max. Japan faces Mali at the same time, also on HBO Max.<\/p>\n

Quarterfinal qualifiers will be Sept. 8 and 9, with quarterfinals on Sept. 10, semi-finals on Sept. 12 at 7:30 a.m. and 11 a.m., and the championship on Sept. 13 at 11 a.m.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There won\u2019t be another Valkyries game until Sept. 18, an oddity in the WNBA schedule thanks to a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":834284,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[4804,99,26334,434],"class_list":["post-834283","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-golden-state-valkyries","tag-sports","tag-valkyries","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/834283","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=834283"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/834283\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/834284"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=834283"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=834283"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=834283"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}