SAN FRANCISCO \u2014 The moment Joe Lacob walks into the Chase Center and heads for his courtside seats, he and his family immediately feel the enormous energy and wholesome vibe that is the Golden State Valkyries\u2019 \u201cBallhalla\u201d home crowd game after game, sellout after violet-crazed sellout.<\/p>\n
The women\u2019s basketball franchise Lacob always envisioned while owning the Golden State Warriors has come together in no time, and in all the right ways \u2013 from relatable players other teams overlooked to leadership from the top down and smart branding complete with a beloved raven \u201cbestie\u201d Violet. Just don\u2019t dare calling her a mascot.<\/p>\n
On Saturday, Lacob will be there roaring with the rest of them as his Valkyries begin their quest for a WNBA championship in just their second year of existence. And whatever happens, he is immensely proud of the progress and the loyal support from everyone representing all walks of life who contributes to one of the best home-court advantages anywhere.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat is truly remarkable is how great our fans are. Our players love it, we love it,\u201d Lacob said. \u201cIt\u2019s great, it\u2019s a cohesion, it\u2019s everybody coming together all at the same time and rooting for something that is new and fresh and it\u2019s timely. And people see it and feel it. What\u2019s going on in that arena is fantastic, it\u2019s remarkable, it\u2019s incredibly fun.<\/p>\n
\u201cI love walking in there, my wife, my family, we all love walking in there to the tremendous feeling of camaraderie and togetherness. We all as a team of people, fans, players, organization, together we\u2019re making history and we all feel it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Owner tries to back up his bold prediction<\/p>\n
For decades, Lacob has loved women\u2019s basketball and when he brought a WNBA franchise to the Bay Area at last, the owner had no hesitations about making bold predictions.<\/p>\n
He promised a championship within the first five years. And now in the second year the Valkyries are playing for one.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m telling you right now, we will win a WNBA championship in the first five years of this franchise,\u201d Lacob declared on Oct. 5, 2023, when the WNBA announced Lacob\u2019s ownership group had been awarded an expansion franchise.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it just goes to show that with a new team, (you can have success) with a clear vision of what you want and the identity that you want,\u201d center Kiah Stokes said. \u201cShoutout to the Valkyries organization, because they had this vision from the start, and to be able to see it come to fruition already in year two is pretty amazing and pretty special. We have a great group, it\u2019s really special, and we\u2019re looking forward to the finals.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lacob had followed his prediction with the same statement to now-coach Natalie Nakase when he interviewed her to be the sideline leader. She was all in from that moment.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just a perfect confluence of events and people and experience and timing. It\u2019s just a lot of things that have all come together at the right time,\u201d Lacob said. \u201cI\u2019m not going to sit here and tell you that I am shocked by this, I\u2019m not. I think all the ingredients were there and I made that prediction knowingly and understood what I was saying, now to do it in two years, no one could sit here and tell you that would be something they would predict. No one, not even me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Many of the Valkyries have taken unsung paths<\/p>\n
Under Lacob\u2019s leadership and the hiring of President Jess Smith and her staff, Golden State has built a roster of understated stars. Veronica Burton got cut by Dallas two years ago, while her backup point guard Kaitlyn Chen was briefly let go by the Valkyries last season before she returned. Kayla Thornton is a 33-year-old undrafted forward out of the University of Texas El Paso who became an All-Star in 2025. Gabby Williams had something to prove in the WNBA after sensing others didn\u2019t believe in her ability.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s not the case anymore.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt feels special because this is a special group,\u201d Williams said. \u201cAll we need is each other. We just need to believe in each other, we know we weren\u2019t a team that was talked about, but just the culture and going to work every day, we felt that we had something worth fighting for. That\u2019s how we\u2019re going into the finals, with that same mentality \u2014 staying together and staying unselfish.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lacob is into it, yelling from courtside in his Valkyries violet gear.<\/p>\n
But this goes back decades for him. He supported Stanford and followed along when Hall of Fame Cardinal coach Tara VanDerveer led the Americans\u2019 gold-medal dominance at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and Lacob became a founding owner of the San Jose Lasers in the former ABL. He is thrilled with the WNBA\u2019s recent strides and the rise of women\u2019s sports.<\/p>\n
NBA pros have become huge fans, too<\/p>\n
Count Warriors coach Steve Kerr as a huge fan of these Valkyries.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re so fun to watch, they\u2019re so unselfish, they\u2019re so tough, smart, well coached,\u201d Kerr said. \u201cAnd having watched this thing unfold over two years, I can\u2019t imagine that there\u2019s ever been a better expansion team in terms of the unveiling of everything \u2013 the brand, the colors, the name, the logo, the mascot, the vibe in the building. It\u2019s incredible. We\u2019re really proud of the team, excited for Natalie and her staff. We can\u2019t wait for the finals.\u201d<\/p>\n
It certainly helps to have Stephen Curry, Draymond Green, Brandin Podziemski and Gui Santos showing up in support.<\/p>\n
Kyrie Irving has taken notice, too.<\/p>\n
No matter who is cheering, Nakase has a message for the loyal, loud fans in a home crowd of 18,064 \u2014 including her top boss, Lacob \u2014 she is so counting on bringing their support to another level.<\/p>\n
\u201cSince we\u2019re prepping for a great game plan, Ballhalla better be prepping for a game plan,\u201d Nakase said. \u201cSo as soon as they\u2019re announced, I need some hostility. If they do a challenge, I need hostility, and if they\u2019re shooting free throws, I need that thing to be rocking. Game plan, Ballhalla, get ready, get prepped.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN FRANCISCO \u2014 The moment Joe Lacob walks into the Chase Center and heads for his courtside seats,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":882741,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[99,434],"class_list":["post-882740","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-sports","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/882740","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=882740"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/882740\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/882741"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=882740"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=882740"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=882740"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}