The path to Golden State’s first WNBA championship had already reached a breaking point before the final whistle. Atlanta’s 80-69 Game 6 victory tied the Finals at 3-3 and sent the series back to San Francisco for a winner-take-all matchup at Chase Center.¹

On Halloween night, the Valkyries made that home-court chance count. They trailed the Atlanta Dream by six at halftime in the first Game 7 in WNBA history, with their offense struggling and the arena growing uneasy. Then Gabby Williams erupted for 28 second-half points, powering Golden State to a 68-63 win and earning Game 7 MVP honors.²

The title arrived just 17 months, two weeks and one day after the franchise’s first game—described as the fastest championship won by a North American professional sports team. Coach Natalie Nakase cast the result as a broader statement: “For all the people that have been underrated, misunderstood, this is for y’all.”²

That perspective ran through the locker room. Williams said finding a team defined by trust altered her career: “I walked into a group full of love and that just changed the entire trajectory of my career.” Veteran Tiffany Hayes, meanwhile, framed the victory as proof of the value long visible to the players themselves: “This is what happens when you invest in women’s sports.”²

The celebrations quickly spilled beyond Chase Center. Fans gathered across the Bay Area, while Mayor Daniel Lurie congratulated the two-year-old franchise for “taking the sports world by storm.” An SFMTA webpage briefly indicated a Wednesday noon parade from the Ferry Building along the Embarcadero to Second Street, although officials had not publicly confirmed the plans by Saturday night.³

For a team that began as a startup and ended its second season with a trophy, the next stop may be a parade route.