The road to history tightened in Atlanta two days before the finale, when the Dream beat Golden State 80-69 in Game 6 and forced the WNBA Finals to a winner-take-all decider. The series returned to Chase Center tied 3-3, with both franchises chasing a first title and the Valkyries trying to complete a startling run in only their second season.¹

On Halloween night, the pressure showed early. Golden State trailed Atlanta by six at halftime in what became the first Game 7 in WNBA history, a bruising, defense-first contest that offered little room for elegance. Then Gabby Williams took over, scoring 28 second-half points as the Valkyries pulled out a 68-63 victory and delivered a championship just 17 months, two weeks and one day after playing their first game.²

The triumph was more than an expansion-team fairy tale. Coach Natalie Nakase framed it as proof for people who have been dismissed: “For all the people that have been underrated, misunderstood, this is for y’all.”² Williams, meanwhile, said the team’s sense of belonging changed her career: “I walked into a group full of love and that just changed the entire trajectory of my career.”²

Veteran Tiffany Hayes put the achievement in broader terms. “This is what happens when you invest in women’s sports,” she said, after enduring the league’s longest postseason at age 37.² Owner Joe Lacob called the franchise an extraordinary startup, while crediting Nakase, general manager Ohemaa Nyanin and president Jess Smith with building its identity.²

The celebration was expected to move downtown next. Details briefly posted by the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency pointed to a Wednesday noon parade from the Ferry Building along the Embarcadero to Second Street, though city officials had not publicly confirmed the plans. Mayor Daniel Lurie congratulated the young franchise for “taking the sports world by storm.”³