The Atlanta Dream had outscored the Golden State Valkyries 18-10 in the second quarter of Game 7 in the WNBA Finals, and the resulting deficit prompted Gabby Williams’ historic game in the next 20 minutes. She promised her teammates she was going to take over, and sure enough, she did. The basketball world has since showered praise on the Finals MVP for her performance, but it was Sophie Cunningham’s unique praise that explained why the Valkyries star stood alone among the best players.

“She deserved MVP, but I think something that really sticks out to me as somebody who’s played against her and someone who’s been in the league pretty much the same amount of time as she has is that everyone loves her as a teammate,” Cunningham said on the No Hesitation podcast. “She leads with such grace and humility and lets her game do the talking…keeps the main thing- the main thing. If it’s someone else’s night, she makes sure to feed them. She’s a great, great leader.”

The Valkyries’ star embodies the name among some of the most selfless stars in the league, and she has been like that throughout her career. Eight years ago, the Valkyries star was surrounded by reporters after the Chicago Sky selected her from UConn. 

“I’ll be whatever you want me to be,” Williams said. “I don’t need the ball 20 times to make something happen.”

She hasn’t left her fundamentals. She was top two in the Defensive Player of the Year race, and when her team needed her, she turned herself into an elite scorer, without compromising her production on the other end. Williams is a quiet star who plays her heart out, and all that matters to her is a win for her team. In Game 7, she played like a leader who was not ready to let her teammates down. 

“I just want to give her a huge shout-out because she is a phenomenal player. And I think that was on display throughout the whole season, but specifically in this last game,” Cunningham added.

Williams had just 2 points in the first two quarters as the Dream took a 6-point lead by halftime. In the next two quarters, she scored 28 points, the most by any player in any half in the postseason. She was equally dominant on the defensive end. Williams ended the game with 30 points and 4 blocks on 10-of-23 FG% and 4-of-8 from beyond the 3-point line, bringing the first championship in Ballhalla in just two years. 

Williams is the first one to take responsibility even before she wants accountability from her teammates. After the Game 3 loss, she told her teammates that she was not being a good leader, and she was going to improve. The Valkyries defeated the Dream in Game 4 and tied the series.

“I just love that this is how she ended her season because it’s fun for anyone who’s a great player to end it like that. But for someone who has such humility about herself and leads their team with such passion and cares about them more than herself, I just think it’s a phenomenal example for a lot of people,” the Fever star further added. 

Williams is a quiet star who hasn’t looked for the media lens, but out of Seattle, she was looking for a team searching for a bigger role. Williams was exactly what the Valkyries needed. A humble leader with experience and a passion to win. Head coach Natalie Nakase echoes Cunningham’s words.

“She’s just a humble star,” Nakase told reporters last month. “… She is the best two-way player in the world, and she’s not asking for anything. She was just asking for our culture — a culture that loved and cared about people, and brought out the best. And I was like, ‘That’s it?’”

When Gabby Williams and her team reached the Finals, it was her time to shine and prove what Nakase had always believed about her. But the Valkyries star was laser-focused on winning and contributing, and not shining.

Before 2026, Williams’ highest total in a single postseason was 40 points. This postseason, she scored 273 points, featuring in the first-ever Game 7 in WNBA history. In 13 games in her championship postseason, the Finals MVP averaged 21.0 points, 4.2 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 2.2 steals per game, while shooting 38.0% from the field and 33.0% from the 3-point line.

Williams revealed that she received a text message from Michael Jordan. She is a Jordan Brand athlete and signed with the brand in 2023. The Valkyries star wore Jordan 41 in the Finals.