July 21, 2025
The Valkyries’ second half may finally be marked by stability
The mission to become the first expansion team in league history is very much in play in Golden State.
The Golden State Valkryies’ most relevant tally in the first half of their first season is 10-12 – their record through 22 games.
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But the second-most relevant tally might be 19 – the number of transactions the team initiated since the start of the season.
If change has been a constant through the first 22 games of Valkryies’ history, the second 22 games might be marked by more stability now that the Eurobasket transitions have subsided and French center Iliana Rupert is signed and ready to make her Golden State debut when the Valkyries return to the court on Friday at home against Dallas.
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The team in flux quickly turns for the season’s stretch run into a team chasing a playoff spot after five losses in six games heading into the All-Star break, one game out at No. 9 in the standings after skidding into the break.
Yet the mission to become the first expansion team in league history to make the playoffs – a spot that not many would have assumed for Golden State at the start of the season – is very much in play.
Cecilia Zandalasini, after the team’s July 16 loss in Seattle – the team’s sixth game in 11 days – said that the team would benefit from the opportunity to rest over the break and prepare for the second half.
“It’s a mixed feeling since we didn’t play very well in the last two weeks, week and a half, so we’ve got things to get back,” Zandalasini said. “We will be back more prepared for sure.”
The road ahead for Golden State is not easy – including a five-game road trip after the Dallas game – but also filled with opportunity. Only nine of their final 22 games are against teams with a winning record. The back half of the Valkyries’ schedule includes three games against Dallas and Washington, as well as two games each against Chicago and Connecticut.
They will have a chance to pick up ground on both Washington and Las Vegas, with whom they likely will be competing for that final playoff spot.
Rupert’s arrival, also known as transaction No. 19, gives Golden State additional depth inside and can stretch the floor with her ability to shoot from beyond the arc. The 6-foot-4 center has played 37 games in two WNBA seasons with Vegas in 2022 (after being drafted in 2021), where she won a title, and Atlanta in 2023. The Valkryies picked Rupert out of the expansion draft. She played in the Eurobasket tournament for the French national team with Janelle Salaün. She averaged 8.7 points and 4.2 rebounds in six games.
Valkyries coach Natalie Nakase said she “loves where we are right now”, despite the pre-break struggles.
“I feel proud,” Nakase said. “Especially with a bunch of players not knowing each other and seeing their faces day one, and now being able to kind of go at them in a different way and just be authentically myself; but be truth tellers and go right at them.”
Fourteen players, including ones no longer on the roster, have averaged double-digit minutes for Golden State this season. Seventeen players have seen time on the floor overall.
Point guard Veronica Burton said that absorbing roster changes is part of being a professional basketball player.
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“We kind of understand how this league works and it can be tough,” Burton said. “We are such team-oriented people and we get along so well. So when you lose a player or a teammate, it’s tough because you form relationships. But at the end of the day, we are welcoming to anyone in our locker room and keep the main thing, the thing.”
Nakase said the team’s ability to flex through the first half of the season, to roll with change and transition and play their way into playoff contention is a function of character as much as skill and experience. She also credited her players for being able to play positionless basketball.
“We have picked players of high character and high character means always putting the team first,” Nakase said. “I’ve rotated my starting lineups alot. That’s been one of the most challenging things. But from day one, I’ve said to them, ‘Stay open-minded. I’m going to show you some things you’ve probably never seen before. It’s about communication and openness and team before self, and that’s why we’ve gotten to do the things we have done so far.”
Written by Michelle Smith
Michelle Smith has covered women’s basketball nationally for more than three decades. A 2024 inductee into the U.S. Basketball Writer’s Hall of Fame, Smith has worked for ESPN.com, The Athletic, the San Francisco Chronicle, as well as Pac-12.com and WNBA.com. She is the 2017 recipient of the Jake Wade Media Award from the Collegiate Sports Information Directors Association (CoSIDA) and was named the Mel Greenberg Media Award winner by the WBCA in 2019.
