We’ve seen this movie before.
Every once in a while, a former UConn women’s basketball star takes The Leap– summoning hidden powers from somewhere deep inside and vaulting from good player to one of the absolute best in the world.
It’s happened with Tina Charles, Napheesa Collier and now, in these WNBA playoffs, Gabby Williams.
Williams has always been a defensive savant — winning National Defensive Player of the Year at UConn in 2017 and twice earning WNBA All-Defense honors. But this season, she’s gone from defensive stalwart and solid offensive contributor to one of the league’s best players, period.
In this, her age-30 season, Williams averaged a career-high 14.4 points while shooting 34 percent from 3, also a career-best. She was an All-Star for the second time, and the best player on the Golden State Valkyries, which went 32-12 and earned the No. 2 seed in the playoffs.
If that wasn’t enough of a leap, she’s become a full-fledged superhero in the playoffs, posting a cape-worthy 25 points, 6 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game while shooting 47.3 percent overall, 46.7 percent from 3, and playing the kind of city-saving defense that would make Spiderman proud. Oh, and she’s also gone 16-of-17 from the free-throw line.
“Print this: Gabby Williams is the best player in the world,” Valkyries owner Joe Lacob told ESPN after a Game 1 WNBA semifinals win over the defending champion Las Vegas Aces, in which Williams scored 25 points, grabbed 11 rebounds, dished out 5 assists and shot 4 of 7 from 3-point range. “Best player in the world. No one is saying it, but they need to start saying it.”
Williams also helped lock up four-time league MVP A’ja Wilson, holding the star big to 8-for-21 shooting in the 71-60 win.
“This is what you dream about,” Williams said after the game. “You dream to play against players like (Wilson). Going up against them is all I care about. … I just want to win.”
Golden State Valkyries forward Gabby Williams (1) and guard Kaitlyn Chen (2) celebrate after their team’s victory ocer the Las Vegas Aces in Game 1 of the WNBA basketball semifinals in San Francisco, Sunday, Oct. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Tony Avelar)
Williams is doing whatever it takes to help her team win, playing her trademark Loctite defense and also putting up big-time scoring numbers, thanks to a polished offensive game that’s improved steadily since she left UConn in 2018. She’s posted scoring lines of 20, 36, 19 and 25 in four playoff games, three of them victories.
Unlike in college, she’s a three-level scorer, from the post to the mid-range, to the 3-point line. It’s not that this was completely unexpected coming out of UConn– she was the No. 4 overall pick in the 2018 draft– but she averaged just 10.6 points per game during her Huskies career and almost never took 3s. She made just one of 12 attempts in her entire four-year career. Last season was her first WNBA campaign in which she averaged more than one 3-point make per game. Now, her range has become a real weapon for Golden State.
Williams said that the Valkyries, who she signed with this past offseason after four years with Seattle, are the first WNBA team to give her this level of offensive freedom.
“I never really had that, in the league, at least,” she told The IX Sports. “I think I’ve had these moments with (Turkish team Fenerbahçe), with my national team (France), but I never quite got that belief in The W from the staff or from my teammates.
“No team (has let me shoot 3s like this). Never in The W have I had the green light to shoot those.”
It feels like these playoffs are the culmination of a years-long come-up for Williams, who was one of the biggest stars at the Paris Olympics in 2024 after nearly leading France to a gold-medal upset of the United States (they lost 67-66 in the final). She led France to another silver at the FIBA World Cup this fall, averaging 18.7 points and 4.8 rebounds per. She’s been one of the best players in the world for a while, winning EuroLeague titles and MVPs with multiple European clubs, but is finally putting it all together on the WNBA stage with a team built around her and a chance to win a championship.
“That’s Gabby,” fellow former Husky and Valkyries teammate Tiffany Hayes told The IX Sports. “She’s our dog. She’s our leader. She’s the one we go to, and she showed you exactly who she is. We’ll do it again and again, over and over. We believe in her. That’s Gabby (bleeping) Williams.”
While she may be carrying Golden State to the brink of the Finals, she’s not the only former Husky making a difference for the Valkyries– the veteran Hayes, in her 15th season, is second on the team in scoring at 12 points per game in these playoffs, and forward Kiah Stokes (10 rebounds per game) and guard Kaitlyn Chen (5 ppg) have made an impact, too.
Game 2 of Golden State’s best-of-five series against Las Vegas is set for Wednesday at 9:30 p.m., in San Francisco.