Steph Curry Hails Valkyries' 25-9 Playoff Clinch as Bay Area Basketball Milestone
Steph Curry praised the Golden State Valkyries after their 25-9 record clinched a second straight WNBA playoff berth, with Gabby Williams scoring 23 points.
Steph Curry Praises Valkyries After Golden State Locks Up Playoff Spot
The Golden State Valkyries turned in another statement performance, and this time one of the Bay Area's most recognizable faces was watching from the crowd. Steph Curry, sitting among Warriors teammates at Chase Center, publicly backed the Valkyries after they secured their second consecutive playoff berth with a 78-70 win over the Dallas Wings on Monday, Aug. 17.
"Hopefully, they get a great end to the year," Curry said, calling the Valkyries' style "amazing basketball" built on "great chemistry." He went further, framing the team's rise as bigger than one franchise's success: "This is what basketball needs. This is what sports needs." Curry also pointed to the atmosphere the Valkyries have built in their short existence, noting the Bay Area now has "a true identity and support around the Valkyries."
The win pushed Golden State to 25-9 on the season, good for second place in the Western Conference according to both ESPN and CBS Sports standings. That the Valkyries have now clinched a playoff spot in each of their first two seasons of existence is the headline — but Curry's on-camera reaction, including visibly hyping up a Valkyries logo three-pointer earlier this season, shows the crossover is real and not just polite league solidarity.
Gabby Williams' 23-Point Night Powers the Clinching Win
The playoff clinch didn't happen by accident. Gabby Williams led the way in the 78-70 win over Dallas, finishing with 23 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists, and 4 steals in 32 minutes on the floor. She shot 8-of-20 from the field and 3-of-8 from beyond the arc, a workload that reflected how much the offense ran through her down the stretch.
The four steals are worth flagging on their own Williams has built a reputation as one of the league's most disruptive perimeter defenders, and her activity on that end has been a quiet engine behind Golden State's defensive identity all season. Against a Wings team fighting to stay in the playoff conversation, her two-way production was the difference-maker rather than a one-dimensional scoring outburst.
Williams' performance came without needing to be historic or record-breaking to matter. In a game where the margin was eight points, her combination of scoring efficiency, rebounding, and takeaways covered nearly every box score category the Valkyries needed filled.
What a Second Straight Playoff Berth Signals for Golden State
Making the playoffs once can be a nice story. Making it twice in a row, while sitting at 25-9 and second in the Western Conference, is a pattern. It tells the league that the Valkyries aren't a novelty expansion franchise riding early enthusiasm — they're a legitimate contender built to compete now, with the infrastructure and buy-in from ownership to keep it going. Curry's comments about the Bay Area's "true identity" around the team aren't just a compliment; they're an acknowledgment that Golden State's basketball ecosystem now has two competitive brands under one roof.
The Valkyries still have regular-season business left. Their remaining schedule includes a matchup with Minnesota on Aug. 19, followed by road games at Chicago (Aug. 21), Minnesota again (Aug. 24), Connecticut (Aug. 26), and New York (Aug. 27). None of it changes their playoff status, but seeding in the West is still very much in play, and how Golden State performs against fellow contenders like Minnesota will shape what kind of postseason matchup they're walking into.
For fans watching the Warriors' orbit expand, the question worth tracking now isn't whether the Valkyries belong in the playoff conversation that's settled. It's how far a 25-9 roster with Gabby Williams playing this well can actually go once the postseason bracket is set.