Basketball never hits pause. J. Cole wasn’t lying when he said the grind doesn’t stop in the off-season. While the NBA takes a breather, the Summer League’s heating up, and the W’s got Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese owning every headline. But this summer? There’s a new buzz in the Bay. Enter: the Golden State Valkyries. And if Dwyane Wade’s business partner’s courtside convo with Golden State’s owner means anything, we might finally be closing the book on one of the longest-standing Bay Area basketball myths.

Leaving Oracle Arena stung—it was a proper gut punch for Bay Area hoops fans. Sure, Chase Center’s got the glitz, the glam, and every NBA stamp of approval. But Oracle had soul, that gritty home-court warmth you just can’t manufacture. Enter the Valkyries. Their arrival has the Chase feeling alive in ways no one expected. When Dorell Wright pulled up to see them battle the Mercury—yeah, they lost by one heartbreaking point, 77-78—but the vibes? Absolutely electric. It didn’t feel like a loss. It felt like the rebirth of that old Oracle energy, rewrapped in something fresh and fierce.

“I forgot about this conversation I had with Peter Guber last week… So we talked about the Valkyries. Like, man, you got to get down to a game. Like, the fan base, the atmosphere is totally different because they’re doing like 15,000 every single night. That’s crazy,” said Wright. “So he’s like 90% are Valkyrie fans and like 10% are like Warrior fans. like they’ve already created their own fan base. So he was telling me, he’s trying to get to a game, and just the experience is so dope in there.” Safe to say it isn’t the Warriors fans, but the Valkyries who are coming to support the Golden State! Not just a win for the Bay, but the W as a whole. And Wade was quick to add his experience with the Dub Nation owner.

“He’s someone I’ve ran into a few times at the Dodger game. D right to the Dodger game. Last year he was there and he’s one of the people who you run into, and each time he asked me, “What do I have going on? What am I doing? If you need any help, reach out to me like he and so you appreciate that. It’s not many people who you get a chance to be around them and they want they even care about what you’re doing.” The Heat star pointed out the reason behind the Valkyries’ success in building a fan base, while appreciating Guber.

That’s the magic of ownership hitting the right notes. The WNBA’s cooking up something special, with three new teams set to join the mix before the decade wraps. And if the Golden State Valkyries’ rise is any sort of sneak peek, the league’s future looks really bright. Packed arenas, buzzy atmospheres, and fresh rivalries? Yeah, sign us all the way up.

Maybe Dwyane Wade should take a few notes from Peter Guber, and the Warriors-Jazz bouts from last season are the perfect reason as to why. Judging by last season, it’s been a bit of a one-sided slap. Lauri Markkanen played a massive role in that run, but Utah’s hesitation to cash in while his value is sky-high? Came back to bite them. Holding out for the perfect trade might just leave them empty-handed—or worse, stuck in rebuild limbo with no clear path out.

Dwayne Wade’s Jazz should’ve traded Lauri Markkanen when they could’ve

This trade market was the perfect time for the Utah Jazz to cash in. Markkanen’s just 28, in his prime, and ready to break out—if only injuries hadn’t been a relentless shadow. He hasn’t played over 70 games ever in any season since his Chicago Bulls days. They’re not expected to move him anymore, but man, they really missed their shot. By holding out too long, the rest of the league (Warriors included) didn’t value him the way Utah did, and now, the Jazz might be paying the price for not pulling the trigger when his stock was at its peak.

“The Jazz did listen to trade offers for marketing before they finalized an extension. Remember, some of those offers were reportedly getting pretty high. They would have gotten a haul from marketing, particularly from the Golden State Warriors who really, really wanted him. But ultimately the Jazz held such a high asking price that they couldn’t get a deal done. And this is nothing new for Utah. And I think it’s to their detriment. They’ve set such a high asking price,” said Trevor Lane on The Basketball Bulletin.

You know what makes it worse? Lauri’s form dipped harder than a stock in a full-blown recession. The guy went from a stellar 23.2 points and 8.2 boards on 48% shooting to a meh-worthy 19 and 5.9 on a shaky 42.3%. That’s not just a slump—it’s a full-on nosedive. And with numbers like that, it’s no wonder his trade value tanked just as fast.

To be fair to Dwayne Wade, though, he’s been in the top job for only about half a decade now, while Guber’s portfolio stretched into the decades and billions of margins. It might take a while, but his legacy might be something the Jazz need to go back to the Frank Layden days. And maybe, the Lauri Markkanen saga was all a part of the process.