Kiah Stokes has done a lot for the Valkyries on defense in the postseason. In the last playoff round against the Las Vegas Aces, her rebounding alone was enough for head coach Natalie Nakase to call her the MVP of the series.
The 33-year-old was named to the WNBA’s all-defensive second team alongside Veronica Burton, but Golden State’s first-team defender, Gabby Williams, thinks Stokes does more offensively than she gets credit for, too.
“She’s probably like the best screener in the league, which isn’t really talked about enough,” Williams said after Golden State’s WNBA Finals Game 1 win over the Atlanta Dream. “But she knows what angles are through the defense.”
That claim plays into the narrative that much of what Stokes does is impossible to see in the box score. She led the Valkyries with 5.8 rebounds per game in the regular season, which makes sense as a 6-foot-3 center, and her 1.7 blocks per game were fourth in the league.
“She just stays super even-keeled, and she saves all her energy for the actual game minutes,” Valkyries coach Natalie Nakase said. “Whether it’s an intense block at the end, or it’s a physical rebound, or it’s just communicating the right message, whether it’s a timeout or in transition, like Kiah is always locked in. And when she’s in, I feel a very good calmness.”
On offense, her 3.6 points per game and 3.4 shot attempts are modest figures for a starter, but they were her highest since 2020 with the New York Liberty.
But finding the data on screens is a little more complicated. The Valkyries don’t run a ton of pick-and-roll, as a team that tries to score from 3-point range or by taking on defenders in isolation.
According to the WNBA stats tracking software Synergy, the Valkyries scored on 186 of their 443 pick-and-roll plays where the ball handler drove to the net this regular season, which is around average. When the screener rolled to the basket, though, the Valkyries scored on 97 of those 196 possessions, which ranked second in the WNBA.
Golden State scores on 41.7% of shots out of a screen action overall, per Synergy, the second-best in the WNBA behind only Indiana. More often than not, that player is Williams, who scores on 51.7% of possessions where she drives off a screen.
When the screener rolls and shoots, though, the Valkyries average 1.143 points per possession, which is their most efficient halfcourt action.
But how much of that screening comes from Stokes?
She was fourth among WNBA screeners with 1.343 points per possession when rolling to the hoop, and shot 21-for-33 when on the roll, giving Golden State an efficient weapon, even if it’s rarely used.
“She screens really well,” Nakase said. “She rebounds really well in the spots that we put her in. She makes good passes when we leave (in transition). She makes really good, quick decisions.”
Because of their screening success, the Valkyries also execute a lot of ghost screens – when the screener sprints away just before making contact with the defender – along with empty-ball screens, when the pick-setter allows the ball handler to get into isolation or provides an option cutting to the rim on the weak side.
For a team that doesn’t run a ton of pick-and-roll, they do have some players who utilize it well. Tiffany Hayes is seventh in the WNBA with 1.071 points per possession when Golden State uses the ball handler going to the net. Stokes is often the screener in those scenarios
So while Stokes might not light up the box score, Williams isn’t wrong to point out her strength as a screener.
Add in Williams’ willingness to go downhill, and she and Stokes have made one of the best pick-and-roll duos in the league, a strength Williams wants to keep pressing.
“She wanted to put the ball in her hands a little bit more,” Nakase said last week. “I just said where, and then we kind of discussed it. The fact that she can make decisions and pick-and-roll or drive and kick, I think that’s the luxury.”