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SAN FRANCISCO — The Atlanta Dream held the title of “most recent WNBA expansion franchise” for 16 years. That ended last season, when the Golden State Valkyries entered the league.
But they couldn’t have entered the league in any more different circumstances.
Atlanta Dream
When the Dream were introduced in 2008, the WNBA was already struggling to stay afloat. A few of the league’s original eight teams had already folded, average league attendance was fewer than 7,500, and the maximum player salary was $95,000.
They enjoyed early success on court, including three Finals appearances in their first six seasons. But they’ve been in a deep rebuild over the last decade, failing to win a playoff series since 2016.
But a high-profile ownership change in 2021 has resulted in a complete franchise overhaul.
The team hired Morgan Shaw Parker, who joined the team in 2021 as president and chief operating officer. She told FOS last year that the Dream organization had just seven employees when she signed on. It had about 70 at the beginning of this year.
They also hired GM Dan Padover away from the Las Vegas Aces in 2021, who built this team through the draft (Rhyne Howard, Naz Hillmon) or through trades (Angel Reese, Allisha Gray, Jordin Canada). He has won three Executive of the Year awards, including in 2025.
“I think it starts from the top down,” Hillmon, who the Dream drafted in 2022, said Friday of the organization’s growth. “When I think about the top, obviously I think about the owners, but I’m also thinking about our GM Dan.”
The Dream’s transformation is still continuing, most clearly seen by the recent struggle to secure 17,000-seat State Farm Arena for their home Finals games. But it’s par for the course for one of the last remaining independent franchises in the WNBA, a team whose owner owns no other pro sports team, a problem the Valkyries know nothing about.
Golden State Valkyries
Golden State arrived in 2025, nearly two decades after Atlanta, with the WNBA enjoying unprecedented momentum, a $3 billion media-rights package kicking in the following year, and an ownership group with the resources and pedigree to make an immediate impact. The Golden State Group brought in the Valkyries, the same organization that runs the Warriors and Chase Center.
But the Valkyries still had to execute, and they did it much faster than even they expected.
Owner Joe Lacob challenged head coach Natalie Nakase to win a title in five years, and has been ahead of schedule since she first donned the purple and black. She dragged a team full of expansion draftees to the playoffs last year, then turned it into a Finals berth in year two.
The Valkyries have also sold out every single home game, and their fans have created an arena atmosphere that’s second to none. The organization is the first to record $100 million in annual revenue, and the first WNBA team to be valued at $1 billion by CNBC—despite only being two seasons old.
“The level of investment from the jump was huge,” starting point guard Veronica Burton said Friday. “From our ownership, to our front office, to our coaching staff, I think they’ve set us up for a position to be successful.”
The Valkyries’ model has been so successful that other expansion franchises actively admit to taking inspiration from them, and team president Jess Smith’s name has even been floated around as a commissioner candidate.
Two Paths, One Goal
On Saturday, the Dream and Valkyries will meet in the WNBA Finals for the first time, bringing together two franchises whose journeys reflect just how much the league has evolved.
For Atlanta, a championship would symbolize a payoff from a lengthy organizational rebuild. For Golden State, a title in its second season would be a feat no other franchise has achieved, cementing them as the best expansion team in league history.
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