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It took nearly two decades, but the WNBA will welcome another expansion team.
The Golden State Valkyries will make their preseason debut Tuesday at the Chase Center in San Francisco against the Los Angeles Sparks. The Valkyries are the league’s 13th team and the first WNBA expansion franchise since the Atlanta Dream joined in 2008.
The WNBA will add two more expansion franchises next year—the Toronto Tempo and a still unnamed team in Portland—and is expecting a 16th team by 2028.
The Valkyries are owned by the Golden State group, which announced a rebrand from GSW Sports on Monday, led by Joe Lacob. The group, which also owns the Chase Center, agreed to pay a $50 million expansion fee for the WNBA franchise in 2023.
Leading up to Tuesday’s preseason opener, the Valkyries have already hit several milestones, including becoming the first WNBA team on record to pass 10,000 season tickets. The team also has a 31,800-square-foot practice facility in Oakland. (State-of-the-art facilities have become one of the key factors in the WNBA’s criteria for selecting expansion markets.)
Golden State and the Chase Center also unveiled a look at the Valkyries’ new court Monday.
Sharing Is Caring
While the Valkyries’ season is set to begin, the Warriors’ season will continue after advancing to the second round of the NBA playoffs following a win over the Rockets on Sunday. This means the Warriors, who share the Chase Center with the Valkyries, will play at least two more games in their home arena.
Based on the Warriors’ second-round schedule, there will not be any conflict with the Valkyries’ regular-season home games, even if the Warriors play a maximum of three home games in their series against the Timberwolves. Minnesota and Golden State have a rare four-day break between Game 5 on May 14 and Game 6 on May 18—and the Valkyries’ regular-season opener falls on May 16.
There is a chance of schedule conflicts if the Warriors advance to the conference finals, though the Valkyries go on an extended road trip after hosting the Mystics on May 21, which leaves the Chase Center free for the Warriors for the rest of the month.
The Valkyries did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Tempering Expectations
Expansion franchises tend to struggle out of the gate, but head coach Natalie Nakase told FOS in October that she and Lacob have a goal of winning a title in the team’s first five years.
Despite their short-term aspirations, the team, on paper, looks like it will be near the bottom of the standings this year. The Valkyries have just one former All-Star on their roster: Tiffany Hayes, whose lone All-Star appearance came in 2017.
But Nakase, who was an assistant with the Las Vegas Aces under Becky Hammon, isn’t fazed. “I don’t think you should ever make assumptions in sports,” Nakase told the San Francisco Chronicle. “Go ahead and doubt us.”
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