{"id":897175,"date":"2026-10-28T05:28:12","date_gmt":"2026-10-28T05:28:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/897175\/"},"modified":"2026-10-28T05:28:12","modified_gmt":"2026-10-28T05:28:12","slug":"valkyries-stars-tells-fans-to-call-in-sick-for-game-6-as-early-wnba-finals-tipoff-sparks-fan-reaction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/897175\/","title":{"rendered":"Valkyries stars tells fans to \u2018call in sick\u2019 for Game 6 as early WNBA Finals tipoff sparks fan reaction"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Game 6 of the WNBA Finals between the Atlanta Dream and Golden State Valkyries has been moved up to 12:30 p.m.<\/a> ET on Thursday to give State Farm Arena enough time to get the building ready for an NBA game that evening.<\/p>\n

The early tipoff could create a challenge for fans in California, where the game will begin at 9:30 a.m. PT. The Valkyries defeated the Dream in Monday\u2019s Game 5 in San Francisco to take a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven series, meaning Game 6 could determine the WNBA<\/a> champion.<\/p>\n

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While championship series games, especially potential championship-clinching contests, are routinely played in prime time, Thursday\u2019s less-than-ideal scheduling doesn\u2019t appear likely to stop Valkyries fans from tuning in to watch their favorite team.<\/p>\n

\"Chase <\/p>\n

Chase Center is seen before Game 5 of the WNBA finals between the Golden State Valkyries and the Atlanta Dream on Monday, Oct. 26, 2026, in San Francisco, California. (AP Photo\/Jeff Chiu)<\/p>\n

WNBA FINALS GAME 6, A POTENTIAL TITLE-CLINCHER, WILL BE HELD IN THE AFTERNOON ON THURSDAY<\/a><\/p>\n

Warriors coach Steve Kerr is among those who plan to tune in, even if he\u2019s having breakfast when the game is starting. “We\u2019ll have a day off that day, so, yeah, I\u2019ll be watching,” he said.<\/p>\n

Several of the WNBA Finals games have drawn record ratings, showing how much interest there is in the league, this series and its athletes. The Valkyries<\/a> have sold out every game since they began as an expansion franchise last year.<\/p>\n

Shaunice Christmas-Miller and her wife, Kendall, have attended every home playoff game this season at Chase Center. Their jobs allow them to be flexible and work from home Thursday. Nevertheless, the couple believes the fan base will still show up Thursday.<\/p>\n

“Absolutely, they will definitely find a way,” Shaunice said.<\/p>\n

\"State <\/p>\n

State Farm Arena will host WNBA Finals Game 6 on Thursday afternoon before the Atlanta Hawks face the Cleveland Cavaliers that night. (NBAE via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Valkyries co-owner Peter Guber was largely unconcerned that the franchise\u2019s devoted home crowd would come together when it matters most, despite morning challenges such as commuter traffic heading into San Francisco for a watch party.<\/p>\n

DREAM COACH KARL SMESKO CALLS WNBA FINALS OFFICIATING \u2018JUST RIDICULOUS\u2019 AS ANGEL REESE ALSO QUESTIONS REFS<\/a><\/p>\n

Supporters have been invited to gather outside Chase Center\u2019s Thrive City viewing area beneath the big screen.<\/p>\n

Shaunice added that she wishes everybody involved had considered the various options well in advance to avoid such last-minute scrambling.<\/p>\n

\"Golden <\/p>\n

Golden State Valkyries fans cheer before Game 5 of the WNBA Finals against the Atlanta Dream at Chase Center in San Francisco, California, on Oct. 26, 2026. (Ezra Shaw\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

“They should have thought ahead for the whole seven-game series,” Shaunice noted. “The women deserve primetime slots.”<\/p>\n

Others expressed their feelings on social media.<\/p>\n

Rapper Flavor Flav posted Tuesday: “Thursday is a paid holiday. Because Flavor Flav said so.” Included in his post was a photo of a note directed to bosses everywhere as a permission slip of sorts requesting excused absences for employees, signed by Flavor Flav with dual titles beneath his name \u2014 “The World\u2019s Greatest Hype Man” and “Official Supporter of Women\u2019s Sports.”<\/p>\n

Ole Miss women\u2019s coach Yolett McPhee-McCuin sounded off.<\/p>\n

“I\u2019d rather play anywhere else than have a 12:30 tip for a WNBA FINALS game man! Not a good look! For fans and for the players,” she posted on X.<\/a> “Just my 2cents that no one asked for.”<\/p>\n

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Golden State coach Natalie Nakase and her players have focused all along on what they can control, and this certainly isn\u2019t one of those things.<\/p>\n

But there were some clever postgame offerings:<\/p>\n

“Call in sick, I recommend it,” point guard Veronica Burton cracked.<\/p>\n

“Yeah, right? Y\u2019all know how to fake a cough, didn\u2019t we all do that?” teammate Kiah Stokes added.<\/p>\n

CLICK HERE FOR MORE OUTKICK SPORTS COVERAGE<\/a><\/p>\n

Golden State guard Kaila Charles has no doubt the Valkyries will adjust for the early tipoff.<\/p>\n

“I think it\u2019s a good thing that we\u2019re able to play in a bigger arena so that they can have more people come and support women\u2019s basketball,” Charles said.<\/p>\n

The Associated Press contributed to this report.<\/p>\n

Chantz Martin is a sports writer for Fox News Digital.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Game 6 of the WNBA Finals between the Atlanta Dream and Golden State Valkyries has been moved up…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":897176,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[3444,2205,4804,259870,99,434],"class_list":["post-897175","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-atlanta-dream","tag-betting","tag-golden-state-valkyries","tag-outkick-sports","tag-sports","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/897175","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=897175"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/897175\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/897176"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=897175"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=897175"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=897175"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}