Brandin Podziemski is more than just a Valkyries superfan

Want the latest Bay Area sports news delivered to your inbox? Sign up here to receive regular email newsletters, including “The Dime.”

Shortly before the WNBA expansion draft last December, Brandin Podziemski and Ohemaa Nyanin met up in the Chase Center kitchen after a workout. 

“Is there anyone you think might be a good fit for us?” Podziemski recalls Nyanin asking him. 

They’d already become acquainted with each other after the Valkyries hired Nyanin as their general manager in the spring. Nyanin spent time with Podziemski and the Warriors in Las Vegas for Summer League and she learned about how the young guard sees the game. 

“I was like, ‘Veronica Burton,’” Podziemski, 22, said. “She said, ‘Really? Why her?’ I was just like, well, I think she plays similar to how I play: tough, hard-nosed, does a little bit of everything for the team to win. And I think from a culture standpoint, she could kind of set that. Obviously, you need more than just Veronica. But from a standpoint of culture, fit, playing basketball the right way, I think she checks those boxes. And I think she’s a good human, at least from the looks of it. She was like okay, I’ll keep that in mind.” 

From Podziemski’s mouth to the first roster in franchise history. The Valkyries selected Burton in the expansion draft, and she has since made Podziemski’s scouting report look prophetic. As Golden State’s revelatory floor general, she has helped lead the new franchise to a surprising 9-7 start and has played a big role in establishing the team’s culture. 

Podziemski has had a front-row seat to it all. He has sat courtside — either next to or near owner Joe Lacob — for eight of the team’s 10 home games. He does more standing than sitting, really, often animatedly clapping, throwing up celebratory hand motions, and flexing his assortment of Valkyries jerseys. 

The guard entering his third NBA season feels a kinship with the Warriors’ sister franchise. He regularly posts on social media about the team and refers to the Valkyries in the first person (“we,” “us,” “our”). And given his relationships with Nyanin, head coach Natalie Nakase, and several players, it’s easy to understand how he feels such a deep connection with the team — one that goes beyond even die-hard fandom. 

“There’s not many things you can do where you can really just be an authentic fan,” Podziemski told The Standard. “I think the only other time I can do that is when I go home and go to a Brewers game, something like that. It’s just a cool experience altogether. What they’ve done, from Joe all the way down to Natalie and all the players, what they’ve built, the environment they’ve created at Chase Center. It’s been cool to see.” 

In the waning moments of the Valkyries’ win over Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever on June 19, Podziemski borrowed Steph Curry’s “Night-Night” celebration as he skipped and hollered on the sideline. He also signaled his arms in the traveling motion after Clark was whistled for a walk. His histrionics were so theatrical that a Chase Center security staffer had to remind him to stay off the court. 

Podziemski doesn’t want to distract from the players on the court, he explained, but it’s easy for him to get wrapped up in the heat of a game as a competitor. 

There are also ineffable qualities of the Valkyries that Podziemski resonates with personally.

“I’m definitely cognizant of it, like I respect all the ladies on the team and I want them to have their moment,” Podziemski said. “Especially because a lot of them are players that didn’t get a chance to play at their last spot, and that’s why they were available in the expansion draft, and now they’re getting an opportunity. So it’s really cool to see like there’s actually a lot of talent in the WNBA and a lot of ladies can play.

“It just so happens that since we’re the expansion team, we got a bunch of dogs that have a chip on their shoulder, that want to prove that they can play in the league. Which, in my opinion, is the scariest team to play against: a team that has something to prove.” 

Behind Burton, Kayla Thornton, Kate Martin, and Tiffany Hayes, the Valkyries already have twice as many wins as the previous expansion franchise, Atlanta, did in its inaugural season. Golden State has sold out Chase Center for every home date. Lacob and his ownership group bought the team for $50 million, and became the first women’s professional team to be valued at $500 million.

There is very little overlap between Valkyries and Warriors season-ticket holders, confirming suspicions that the Bay Area market — with its rich women’s basketball history — was long overdue for its own team. 

“You see a lot of families showing up with two or three kids, a lot of the times they’re young girls,” Podziemski said. “As a young girl, if you see a Kayla Thornton, a Tiffany Hayes — whoever — out there playing. Caitlin Clark when she came, Angel Reese [Friday], you see as a young girl or even as a young boy, it gives you hope. It gives you a confidence like they can do it, i’m seeing it with my own eyes.” 

When Podziemski watches Valkyries games — and other WNBA action — he views them through an analytical lens. He noted that Kasib Powell, one of the Valkyries assistant coaches, was formerly the head coach of the Heat’s G League affiliate and loved how the Valkyries implemented a Miami-style zone to stifle the Connecticut Sun. 

Podziemski watches how players around the league use their skill and basketball I.Q. to find every edge. He’ll often rewind clips of Las Vegas Aces guard Chelsea Gray, reverse engineering plays to understand what she saw on a given pass.

“You can take a lot from players in the WNBA,” Podziemski said. 

Podziemski’s WNBA fandom started a few years ago out of convenience. The hoops junkie can only watch so much baseball in the summer, and the WNBA’s season runs opposite to that of the NBA and college basketball. 

So when Nyanin asked him about personnel, he had a good idea of the talent in the women’s game. He remembered watching a preseason game in which Burton relentlessly picked up Clark full-court, pressuring her as best she could. They’d battled in Big Ten matchups in college, and Burton’s intensity stood out to Podziemski. 

Now whenever he runs into Nyanin at Chase, they joke about his role in drafting her. He’s a fan now, but maybe he has a future as an executive, too. 

“Whether it’s NBA, WNBA, I definitely always want to stay in basketball as long as I can,” Podziemski said. “Whether that’s into my 50s, 60s, whatever it is. I think I have a good kind of sense of what a team needs, how to put together a team. That’s definitely something I’d want to do post-NBA.”