The Golden State Valkyries are the WNBA's deepest team. They're deep enough that a few days ago, they almost beat the Chicago Sky in a game where their starters played so poorly that they were all benched.
That depth comes at a cost, though. It's helped the Valkyries become the league's best defensive team because Golden State is able to rotate players in and out, but the team has struggled offensively at times, with part of that being the absence of a scorer who can take over games. It's not the biggest concern in the world, but it is something that could pose a problem once we get to the postseason.
Golden State's offensive balance is a double-edged sword
The Valkyries have a lot of players who can score, but not necessarily any players who can score a lot. Seven players on the roster have scored in double figures at least 10 times this season, but just two players have scored 20 or more points five times.
Player | Number of 20+ Point Games |
|---|---|
Janelle Salaun | 6 |
Gabby Williams | 5 |
Veronica Burton | 4 |
Kaitlyn Chen | 1 |
Tiffany Hayes | 1 |
Kayla Thornton | 1 |
Cecilia Zandalasini | 1 |
This has been a really fun Valkyries team to watch because of the way this team makes games ugly with its defense and grinds out victories, but I worry that we're stretching the concept of "defense wins championships" to the extreme. I also write about the NFL, so I have a recent cross-sport example here that I think works well — the 2025 Houston Texans, a team that was elite on the defensive end and could hold pretty much any opponent in check. The problem was that it didn't really matter how few points they allowed, because the offense was unable to get into the end zone when it mattered in the playoffs.
That, uhh, sounds a bit like the 2026 Valkyries, who have the league's best scoring defense but also the league's second-worst scoring offense. And while there are certainly good pieces here, the lack of a go-to scorer who can take over a game is an issue. The two players with enough 20-point games to maybe fit that mold are Janelle Salaun and Gabby Williams, but Salaun is less of an iso scorer. Williams is the closest thing you have to a "put the ball in her hands at the end of a close game" player, but she's also below average in efficiency this season. Tiffany Hayes was this kind of player in the past, but her scoring is down fairly significantly in 2026.
This isn't to say that this team-centered approach to offense isn't a way you can go about things. It's worked so far, for example. The question is just how it will work with the magnified pressure of a playoff series. Maybe it will be fine, but it's definitely a variable that should concern Valkyries fans.
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