Despite back-to-back losses for the Valkyries, the second-year team is exceeding expectations. After a challenging early-season schedule that's included facing the Liberty and Lynx, as well as playing the Fever and reigning champion Aces twice each, Golden State sits at 6-5, and Gabby Williams is on track to have a career year.
For most of Williams' time in the WNBA, the forward has been known as a defensive menace–in 2022, she made the All-Defensive Second Team, and three years later she ascended to the First team. Having played with offensive powerhouses like Breanna Stewart, Jewell Loyd, and Allie Quigley in Seattle and Chicago, it was never really her job to score at a high clip. Since signing with the Golden State Valkyries, however, Williams is somehow finding a way to be the team's engine on both sides of the floor.
According to her media appearances since her blockbuster signing, it appears Williams is also having the best time paying basketball since joining the W.
Williams looks like a new player
Through 11 games, Williams is averaging 14.5 points, 3.9 rebounds, 2.5 points, and 1.8 steals in 25.6 minutes–some of the best numbers of her career. On Saturday against A'ja Wilson and the Aces, she scored a career-high 27 points, and was tied for the second-highest scorer on both teams.
Gabby Williams had herself a game đź‘Ź
— WNBA (@WNBA) June 6, 2026
She recorded a new career-high 27 PTS, 6 REB, and 3 3PM for the @valkyries! #WNBASeason30 | 2026 WNBA Commissioner's Cup | @coinbase pic.twitter.com/rlHfu69Zmv
For the first time, her offensive ability is on full display—Williams shoots an average of 5.5 shots from beyond the arc per game, cashing in on 38.3% of them (both of which are the highest rates in her career). Every time she's scored in the double digits this year, she's scored over 15 points, and she's done it against some tough competition.
In her first media appearance in Golden State, Williams put her decision to sign with the Valkyries simply: "Even though this is a newer team, I strongly believe and feel the competitiveness and the want to win here." The team has certainly proved it can win, and even if they do not get all the way to the promised land this season, there is not one team in the league that can write the Valkyries off as an easy opponent to face.
Most importantly, Williams is having fun
After her first home game in Chase Center, in which Williams scored 19 points in a win against the Phoenix Mercury, she said, "That was the most fun I've had in a game ever." It's easy to see why. Balhalla erupts every time her name is called, and she never fails to shout out her teammates and fans when she succeeds.
As Coach Natalie Nakase said, "I think this is a perfect fit for [Gabby], because she wanted to step into this organization at a time in her career where she's like, 'I want more...I want more responsibility.'"
The speed at which she stepped into a leadership role for the team is proof she was ready for that increased work load, as Nakase added: "she's already developed those relationships where she gets to hold those conversations in big moments."
Of course Williams would have fun playing for the most defensive-minded coach and team in the league: it's what she does best. After her breathtaking performance against Las Vegas, things are looking up for the forward, and her decision to head to Golden State instead of other, more established options makes more sense by the day.
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