Natalie Nakase Sends Message on Historic Valkyries News After Chicago Sky Game
The Golden State Valkyries emergence in their inaugural season has been one of the most fascinating storylines of the entire WNBA season thus far, With their 90-59 win over the Chicago Sky on Friday, the Valkyries officially set the mark for the most wins by an expansion franchise in WNBA history.
The Valkyries' 18th win of the season breaks a 27-year-old record set by the 1998 Detroit Shock, who went 17-14 in their inaugural WNBA season. The playoffs that season consisted of only four of the league's 10 teams, so the Shock missed the playoffs by a single game as the fifth seed.
a historic W tonight ✨🪽 https://t.co/DIAr8KewWR
— Golden State Valkyries (@valkyries) August 16, 2025
Perhaps the most impressive aspect of the Valkyries' new record is that only four current WNBA franchises were part of the league's original eight-team lineup in 1997, which means that the other nine in the league today were all expansion franchises at some point.
The Valkyries are currently the sixth seed in a 13-team league, so they are still one of the eight teams safely in the playoffs if the season were to end today. However, they only have a two-game advantage over the ninth-place Los Angeles Sparks and are in a vital stretch to avoid the same fate of missing the playoffs as the '98 Shock.
Valkyries Coach Sends Message After Making WNBA History
Golden State coach Natalie Nakase is all too aware of the stakes that still remain for the Valkyries as they try and secure their first playoff berth in their inaugural season as a franchise. When asked by a reporter if she had taken any time to reflect on the Valkyries' outstanding season and her career-defining performance as a coach, Nakase gave a blunt response.
“No, because we, you know, our goal now is to make the playoffs, and that's kind of what we're focused on,” Nakase said. “Like I said, we can't control what the teams above us and below us are doing, if they're going to win or not. So next team up, Atlanta. We have to beat Atlanta. It's a must-win, because, again, we only have to worry about controlling what we can control.
Nakase did give some feedback about her team's performance in the record-setting win, crediting their second-half turnaround after a disjointed first half.
“I thought our effort in the second half, keeping them to 19 points, we made a couple of adjustments and then, you know, only allowing them six paint points, which they had 22 in the first half. I said, ‘You just don't look connected for some reason on the defensive end.’ All of a sudden, they're connected, they're talking, and they're putting each other in the correct positions for us to be successful."
Will Despart is a Las Vegas-based sportswriter who covers the WNBA for OnSI. He also writes for Ballislife and handles multiple beats for The Sporting Tribune, including the Las Vegas Aces and Las Vegas Raiders. His reporting has been featured in newspapers across the country through the Field Level Media news wire.