2026 WNBA Finals
The Golden State Valkyries beat the Atlanta Dream 4-3 in the 2026 WNBA Finals, winning the title in their second season behind Finals MVP Gabby Williams.
The Golden State Valkyries won the 2026 WNBA Finals. They beat the Atlanta Dream four games to three, closing the series 68-63 in Game 7 on Oct. 31, 2026, at Chase Center in San Francisco. The franchise was in only its second season. Per the Elias Sports Bureau, that made Golden State the fastest North American professional expansion team since 1967 to win a championship across the NBA, NFL, NHL, MLB and WNBA, and so the fastest expansion champion in WNBA history. It was also the first WNBA Finals, and the first WNBA playoff series of any kind, to go to a Game 7. Gabby Williams scored 30 points in the clincher and was named Finals MVP.
| Fast facts | |
|---|---|
| Champion | Golden State Valkyries (first title) |
| Runner-up | Atlanta Dream |
| Dates | Oct. 17–31, 2026 |
| Venues | Chase Center (San Francisco); State Farm Arena (Atlanta) |
| Series result | Golden State won 4-3 |
| Finals MVP | Gabby Williams, Golden State |
| Attendance as reported | 18,064 at each Chase Center game; 17,099 at each State Farm Arena game |
The setup
Golden State joined the WNBA in 2025. It built its first roster mostly from players the other 12 teams left unprotected in the December 2024 expansion draft, plus several international signings, according to Al Jazeera’s account of coach Natalie Nakase’s remarks. In 2025 the Valkyries became the first expansion organization to reach the playoffs in its inaugural season. Owner Joe Lacob had promised a championship within the franchise’s first five years.
The signing that built the winner was Gabby Williams. Golden State signed her as a free agent in April 2026, per NBC Bay Area, and the Valkyries were her fourth WNBA team. She became the first All-Star starter in team history and made the WNBA All-Defensive First Team. Golden State finished the 2026 regular season at 32-12, the second-best record in the league.
Atlanta’s big move came in April 2026. The Dream acquired two-time All-Star Angel Reese from the Chicago Sky for first-round draft picks in 2027 and 2028. Under coach Karl Smesko, the Dream went 30-14 and won the Eastern Conference regular season.
Neither team lost much on the way to the Finals. Golden State beat the Dallas Wings 2-1 in the first round, losing Game 2 in overtime, then swept the defending champion Las Vegas Aces 3-0 in the semifinals. Atlanta was unbeaten. The Dream swept the Washington Mystics 2-0 and then the New York Liberty 3-0. Two of the wins over New York were close: 101-98 in overtime and 85-83 on the road.
How it happened
Game 1 (Oct. 17, Chase Center). Golden State won the opener 68-64.
Game 2 (Oct. 19, Chase Center). Atlanta tied the series with a 79-65 win. It was the Dream’s first win in a WNBA Finals game after losses in all of their earlier Finals games.
Game 3 (Oct. 21, State Farm Arena). Atlanta won 97-71, the most lopsided game of the series, and led 2-1.
Game 4 (Oct. 24, State Farm Arena). With Golden State trailing 2-1, Nakase changed her starting lineup. She started Kaila Charles and Tiffany Hayes and moved Kayla Thornton and Cecilia Zandalasini to the bench. Golden State won 67-62 to tie the series at 2-2.
Game 5 (Oct. 26, Chase Center). The Valkyries held Atlanta to 55 points in a 64-55 win and went up 3-2.
Game 6 (Oct. 29, State Farm Arena). Atlanta won 80-69 to force a seventh game. This game drew the series’ main scheduling dispute. State Farm Arena had a prior booking, so the game was set for a 12:30 p.m. Eastern start on a Thursday. Critics said the league had picked arena availability over a primetime audience. The Dream said it had warned league officials about the conflicts months earlier.
Game 7 (Oct. 31, Chase Center). Atlanta led 30-24 at halftime. In the first six games, the team leading at the half had won every time. In the third quarter, Williams scored Golden State’s final 11 points of the quarter. Rhyne Howard’s layup tied the game at 57 with 2:41 left. Williams answered with a 3-pointer and then made two free throws with 1:40 to go. In the final seconds, Atlanta forced a jump ball between Allisha Gray and Williams. Veronica Burton corralled the tap and made two free throws with 5.1 seconds left to seal the 68-63 win.
Williams finished Game 7 with 30 points, 28 of them in the second half. Al Jazeera reported that this made her the first player in WNBA postseason history to score 28 points in a half. She and Penny Taylor, for Phoenix in 2007, are the only players in WNBA history to score 30 or more in a winner-take-all Finals game. Kiah Stokes had 13 rebounds and two blocks and won her fourth title. For Atlanta, Jordin Canada scored 18, Gray 16, and Reese had 8 points and 12 rebounds. The Dream shot 23 of 69 from the field and 6 of 30 from three. It was Atlanta’s fourth Finals appearance without a title. “I’m just grateful I got to go to war with this group,” Reese said afterward, per Al Jazeera.
By the numbers
| Game | Date | Score | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Oct. 17, 2026 | Golden State 68, Atlanta 64 | At Chase Center |
| 2 | Oct. 19, 2026 | Atlanta 79, Golden State 65 | Dream’s first-ever Finals win |
| 3 | Oct. 21, 2026 | Atlanta 97, Golden State 71 | Largest margin of the series (26) |
| 4 | Oct. 24, 2026 | Golden State 67, Atlanta 62 | Series tied 2-2 |
| 5 | Oct. 26, 2026 | Golden State 64, Atlanta 55 | Atlanta’s lowest score of the series |
| 6 | Oct. 29, 2026 | Atlanta 80, Golden State 69 | 12:30 p.m. ET weekday start |
| 7 | Oct. 31, 2026 | Golden State 68, Atlanta 63 | First Game 7 in WNBA Finals history |
Scores per Basketball-Reference (Golden State game log) and Basketball-Reference (Atlanta game log); venues and notes per Wikipedia.
The record
Per Basketball-Reference, Golden State Valkyries/WNBA and Al Jazeera, through Nov. 6, 2026.
Williams averaged 19.6 points and 2.6 steals per game in the Finals. Her 137 points and 18 steals both set WNBA Finals records, and Stokes’ 19 blocks set the Finals record for blocks.
Honors
- 2026 WNBA champion: Golden State Valkyries
- 2026 WNBA Finals MVP: Gabby Williams
- 2026 Sixth Player of the Year (unanimous): Janelle Salaün
- 2026 All-Defensive First Team: Gabby Williams
- 2026 All-Defensive Second Team: Veronica Burton
- 2026 All-Defensive Second Team: Kiah Stokes
- 2026 All-Star starter: Gabby Williams (first in franchise history)
Per Golden State Valkyries/WNBA and WNBA.com, through Nov. 6, 2026.
The arguments
Depth against stars. Golden State was the first team to win a WNBA championship without an All-WNBA honoree on its roster that season. Atlanta, by contrast, had added Reese. Andscape columnist William C. Rhoden held up the title as proof that no single face defines the league. He set Atlanta’s star power against Golden State’s balance, which was built largely from unprotected expansion-draft players around Williams. After Game 7, Williams told reporters that “all it took was good people,” and she noted the outside criticism that Golden State had no stars.
Was the better team the champion? Over the seven games, Atlanta outscored Golden State 500-472, per the game scores. Atlanta’s three wins came by 14, 26 and 11 points. Golden State’s four wins came by 4, 5, 9 and 5. Every Golden State win was by single digits, and every Atlanta win was by double digits. Some readers take the point total as a sign of how evenly matched the teams were. Others say the Valkyries’ 4-0 record in single-digit games was the series itself.
The Game 6 scheduling. The weekday-afternoon Game 6 start drew criticism over viewership and over whether Atlanta’s home crowd had been weakened. The Dream said its warnings had been largely ignored. The league’s decision has been debated, but no one has claimed it changed the result.
Dynasty talk. The title met Lacob’s five-year promise in Year 2. Before the playoffs, Sabreena Merchant spoke on the No Offseasons podcast, as summarized by EssentiallySports. She said the team’s facility, its “excellent home crowd” and its “ownership who clearly wants to win” had already made it “a free agent draw in year two.” In her view, those advantages would let Golden State “bring in more and more talent.” Rhoden noted that Cynthia Cooper, Sheryl Swoopes and Tina Thompson led the Houston Comets to the WNBA’s first four championships, 1997 through 2000. As of Nov. 6, 2026, Golden State had won one championship, and whether it becomes a dynasty depends on seasons not yet played.
Why it matters
The 2026 Finals changed what the WNBA expects from an expansion team. The league’s 10 earlier expansion franchises had combined for a .309 winning percentage in their first seasons. Golden State reached the playoffs in its first season and won the title in its second, faster than any North American expansion team since 1967. The series also gave the league its first Finals Game 7, and Williams’ 30-point clincher and record 137 Finals points made her the defining figure of the franchise’s first championship.
