The Golden State Valkyries became the fastest expansion team in major North American professional sports history to win a championship, accomplishing the feat in just their second season. However, when Kiah Stokes stepped off the ferry during the team’s championship parade, it wasn’t just the celebrations that caught people’s attention. Her T-shirt had a message for everyone who had overlooked the Valkyries throughout the season. But what prompted the veteran center to make that statement?
During her conversation with Khristina Williams on the In Case You Missed It podcast, Stokes was asked about the inspiration behind the shirt she wore, with Williams drawing a comparison to the playful championship T-shirts A’ja Wilson wore during their time together in Las Vegas. And Stokes didn’t shy away from admitting that there was a little pettiness behind the message.
“Kept some pettiness from my time in Vegas. That’s for sure,” the center said, per an X post by the podcast. “But I just remember during the season, right before All-Star, ESPN released whatever that was, and we were second at the time in the standings. And I was like, ‘Okay, we’re second, but you can’t even give us any type of shot to win a championship?’ So I just felt like a type of way. So at the time, I took a screenshot. You never know. You may or may not need it, depending on how the season ends up.”
“And then when we won, I was like, yeah, let me just throw it on the shirt. Talk a little mess here and there, but I just, I gotta be a little bit petty.”
During the parade, Kiah Stokes wore a T-shirt featuring a screenshot of ESPN Analytics’ July 26 championship projections, which had the Valkyries nowhere near the top of the list. The Indiana Fever led the rankings at 24%, followed by the Las Vegas Aces (23%), Minnesota Lynx (16%), New York Liberty (15%), and Atlanta Dream (13%). Golden State, meanwhile, sat sixth and didn’t even make the graphic.
But it is worth noting that at the time, the doubts surrounding the expansion team were understandable. The Valkyries had no established superstar and finished the season without an All-WNBA selection, becoming the first championship team in league history to do so. And Golden State had won just three of its nine games against eventual playoff teams when ESPN released those projections.
It was just after that the Valkyries went 13-4 to eventually finish 32-12 and secure the No. 2 seed. Stokes may have picked up a thing or two about championship parade banter during her time with the Las Vegas Aces from 2022 to 2025, but she certainly had her own reason to take a shot at the rankings.
ESPN also wasn’t going to let the moment pass without a response. On Wednesday, ESPN Insights, the network’s analytics account, replied to Stokes on X with a joke and an apology, acknowledging how quickly Golden State had climbed the title-contender ladder after being left out of the original graphic.
“How’s this look, @kstokes41? 😅Golden State was 6th on the leaderboard when we posted it on July 26, but went 13-4 from there! ESPN Analytics had the Valkyries as title favorites by August 10. Sorry we were a little late to the party 🏆,” the analytics account wrote.
However, Kiah Stokes wasn’t about to let ESPN have the final word. Responding directly under the network’s post, the Valkyries center pointed out that her team had already climbed much higher in the standings by the time the projections came out.
“We were actually 2nd in the standings at the time, so do with that what you want,” Stokes replied.
Before the predictions were released on July 26, Golden State had put together a nine-game winning streak, quickly establishing itself as the “hottest team in the league.” That surge earned them the No. 2 spot in the WNBA power rankings in both Week 9 and Week 10.
So, in other words, Stokes wasn’t just holding on to a screenshot for the sake of being petty. She made sure everyone remembered just how much the Valkyries had been overlooked along the way.