For a long time, the WNBA has been powered by teams that were just physically and mentally better than their opponents. To a degree, this will always be true — sports, at the end of the day, are a physical exercise. Success often comes down to who is harder, better, faster, stronger — but, as we've seen throughout this playoff series, even the mightiest can fall.
There are probably plenty of numbers-related reasons why the Golden State Valkyries and the Atlanta Dream are in the WNBA Finals this week, and I'm not going to pretend that I can predict or understand them. Stats, sure. Numbers and patterns that can actually predict which team will make it and which team will not based on percentages? There's a reason I like to write.
And beyond that, there are a lot of ways to absorb, study, watch, enjoy, and analyze basketball. And let me tell you this right now: one of the biggest reasons the Valkyries and the Dream are in the Finals has a lot more to do with what happens off the court than what happens on it.
It's abundantly clear when both teams play that they play, well, as a team. It's something you see at the collegiate level often; in fact, it's something that sets NCAA basketball apart from the WNBA, and can even make it more enjoyable as an experience. Maybe it's an age thing, but some of the best college basketball teams play together. There are superstars to be sure, but the focus is so often on the team.
That's something you get with Golden State, and it's something you get with Atlanta, and it manifests in different ways. The Valkyries have taken what's been a curse for so many years in the league — entering as an expansion team, when so many have seemed doomed to struggle for years from the start — and have turned it into one of the most successful team stories perhaps of all time. They've done this first with a band of newer coaches and expansion team players, and a team, culture, city-first mentality. The genuine care they have for one another is evident in how they play, but also in how they speak to and about each other after each game.
The Dream, on the other hand, has an entirely different expansion team story. It's one that's been told through trial and error, mistakes and triumph, and that's looking like it's about to finally, possibly, even probably hit the highest high possible in this game. Like the Valkyries, it's beyond clear that the Dream not only love and support one another, they trust each other. They trust their coach, despite whining on the internet, and they trust what they're building.
Other teams have this, too, but often in smaller doses. You see it when the Las Vegas Aces play, in the interplay and exchange between A'ja Wilson, Jackie Young, and Chelsea Gray. You caught glimpses of it with the Lynx, when Olivia Miles tapped into the zoniest of zones and seemed to read the minds of everyone she was playing with. For all the dramatic attention they can receive, the Indiana Fever have played with this kind of spirit and mindmelding, especially Aliyah Boston and Caitlin Clark in 2024, and Clark and Kelsey Mitchell in 2025. The Portland Fire showed signs of this early on — before her injury, Sarah Ashlee Barker seemed to have the innate ability to just understand what her teammates needed, on and off the court.
But there aren't many teams who are playing such whole-team basketball like the Valkyries and the Dream are this season. When teams are evaluating and puzzle piecing and getting out the red string in the preseason, perhaps team chemistry and trust will be at the forefront. Clearly, it's working.
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