SAN FRANCISCO – If the Valkyries look up in the rafters of their Chase Center home arena, four bright gold and blue Golden State Warriors championship banners hang loudly and proudly.
The first one won in 2015, five years after Joe Lacob purchased the Warriors and the first in 40 years for the franchise. When Lacob officially bought the Valkyries in 2023, before they even had a name or roster assembled, the executive declared the Valkyries would win a WNBA championship within the first five years of the team’s existence.
It would be a bold claim if made by anyone other than Lacob. But his message, although mocked at by the general sports world, was heard loud and clear by the Valkyries. And with just a few words, the standard was set and the expectation is clear.
While expansion teams historically don’t have a high success rate, Lacob and the Valkyries are hoping to rewrite history. That probably won’t happen in Year 1, but Golden State is off to a promising start.
That became increasingly clear against the defending champions Wednesday night. The Valkyries hung with the New York Liberty until the final dying seconds of a down-to-the-wire 81-78 loss at Chase Center.
But despite taking Liberty star Sabrina Ionescu out of her game and going neck-to-neck with the reigning champs, there are no moral victories for the Valkyries.
“Yeah, we’re close. We don’t really care about being close,” Valkyries guard Kate Martin said postgame. “We want to win. That’s our goal every night. We don’t care if it’s the defending champs. We don’t care who you are. Our goal is to win.
“Our goal is to control what we can control and go out there and give our best effort every single night.”
Martin had an explosive fourth quarter, knocking down four 3-pointers and scoring 14 points in 10 minutes of the final frame to keep her team alive and Valkyries fans out of their seats and on their feet for the last few minutes of game action.
But even after pouring in a season-high 21 points Wednesday, her performance was the last thing on her mind as the loss still rubbed her the wrong way. As did they for Valkyries coach Natalie Nakase.
“I agree with Kate,” Nakase said after the loss. “We don’t care what the score ended up being – we want to win. And you could see it. You could feel it with our players. But no, we let them score 46 in the first half. [Breanna Stewart] had 21. That wasn’t part of the game plan.”
Golden State made the necessary adjustments in the second half, as Stewart scored just two points in the final two quarters. It was too late for the Valkyries, however, who had two chances to nail a game-tying three with seven seconds remaining in the game.
The Valkyries’ mindset after a close-knit loss to one of the best teams in the league only reflected their pregame mentality.
As Nakase spoke to reporters during her routine pregame media availability, she was asked if there is anything more special or marquee about playing a New York team, especially given Ionescu’s highly anticipated Bay Area homecoming.
“No, it’s about us,” she said. “It’s always going to be about us when we play. We can’t control anything outside of how we play, how we prepare, how we lock into the game plan. I can’t control what Sabrina’s going to do. I just want to focus on our game plan execution and being locked in.”
The reporter followed up, hoping to clarify his question and re-emphasize any added uniqueness to playing the defending WNBA champions, who happen to be a big-market team.
“No. We’re in the Bay. Yeah, they’re from the Big Apple, but we’re in the Bay,” Nakase said. “I think what’s special about us is our 18,000 fans that show up for us. So we just want to focus on, again, what we can control. We want to win every game. That’s the important thing for us. No matter who we’re playing. We’re going to bring that same energy we bring from Connecticut, from Indiana, from Dallas. We are bringing that same energy every single night.
“And I think that’s the difficulty and the challenge of winning is trying to be consistent, and that’s what I’m trying to make sure I get our players to do every single day.”
After being blown out by New York in their first meeting of the season on May 27, Golden State since has gone toe-to-toe with the defending champs twice, given the Minnesota Lynx, who currently have the best record in the league, a hard time and gave the Phoenix Mercury a run for their money in a narrow loss.
Just last week, reigning WNBA Rookie of the Year and rising superstar Caitlin Clark was in town as her Indiana Fever took on the Valkyries for the first time. Just like Ionescu, a large crowd arrived early to watch Clark warm up and cheer her on during the duration of the game. But Clark also struggled in her Bay Area debut, finishing with just 11 points and missing all of her seven 3-point attempts in the Valkyries’ 88-77 win.
It goes to show that the Valkyries’ words aren’t just words. It doesn’t matter who’s in town. Clark. Ionescu. Stewart, a two-time WNBA MVP. The focus is on themselves. The focus is on winning.
From Lacob’s confident claim two years ago to this very point, about a third of the way into their inaugural WNBA season, it’s evident the Valkyries aren’t here for a feel-good story.
And when they need a little motivation or a friendly reminder, all they have to do is look up.