The Golden State Valkyries are completely dominating the WNBA during just their second season of existence as a franchise. A veteran sports journalist firmly believes the 2026 expansion team possesses all the necessary tools to capture a championship. He recently detailed the exact on-court strategy making them so overwhelmingly dominant.
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The Athletic journalist Marcus Thompson explicitly praised their defensive intensity during an appearance on the WNBA Today podcast. A clip posted by @WNBAonCLNS featured Thompson explaining why he views the Valkyries as legitimate title contenders.
“Their defense is just suffocating, and it is hard, and they wear down people, they just wear you down,” he said. He specifically highlighted a standout perimeter defender leading this suffocating system.
“Veronica Burton is going to run the point. She’s going to get into the paint just about every time. She’s going to get a foot in the paint and swing the ball. And then she’s going to guard you. That’s what it is, that’s just what it is. She’s going to do that. And what we found throughout the season is a lot of people just can’t handle that. They just can’t.”
He’s not wrong. Burton joined the Valkyries last season from the expansion draft and broke out immediately into one of the best perimeter defenders in the league. Her points and assists averages went from 3.1 and 1.9 in 2024 to 11.9 and 6.0 in 2025, and she finished the season earning Most Improved Player honors and was named to the All-Defensive Second Team.
This season, she has built upon that stellar campaign, improving to 12.3 points while increasing her shooting percentage by 4.5%, while adjusting to the addition of major offseason signing Gabby Williams. In turn, that has propelled the team to the top of the standings.
The Valkyries hold the second-best record in the league at 29-11, only behind the Minnesota Lynx. That record is built largely on their historic defense.
Golden State holds the league’s best defense rating at 100.1, over four points better than the second-best team, the Lynx. On top of that, they also lead the league in opponent points per game, and are about 7.6 points ahead of the Washington Mystics, who sit at #2.
To get an idea of how astronomical a difference that is, take a look at this stat: The difference between the Valkyries and the Mystics is greater than the difference between the Mystics and the 11th team in the rankings, the Chicago Sky.
Golden State’s Defense Is Making Life Miserable for WNBA’s Biggest Stars
What makes the Golden State Valkyries’ defense even more impressive is their performance against other playoff teams. This season, they have held the Lynx, Mystics, New York Liberty, Atlanta Dream, and Indiana Fever to their lowest scoring totals in a game with 66, 49, 60, 66, and 75, respectively. After holding the Lynx to that total, head coach Natalie Nakase had nothing but praise for her players.
“It’s just nice that we are executing all four quarters,” Nakase told reporters after the game. “They’re No. 1 for a reason. What I liked is there was no dip tonight. A lot of times, we dip, but we kept punching, and we stayed with the mentality of emptying the tank.”
Their stifling defense extends to opposing stars. For example, Olivia Miles is the clear favorite to win Rookie of the Year and has been the engine behind the Lynx’s success. She was completely locked up by them on August 27, being held to just 8 points on 25% shooting. This was only the second time she had been held to below 10 points in her career, with the previous one also coming against the Valkyries.
Other star guards held to low-scoring games include Caitlin Clark, who scored just 13 points on 4-14 shooting against them in July, and Kayla McBride, who shot just 2-9 against them in August.
Golden State might not have been expected to enter the championship conversation so soon, but with a defense that has shown the ability to shut down nearly any player in the league, the rest of the WNBA might have to start taking them more seriously.