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As Valkyries players stepped up to the podium for their exit interviews last week, the emotions from a heartbreaking loss at SAP Center still lingered.
Just hours before players addressed their uncertain futures, the team had gathered at halfcourt, arms wrapped around one another, as chants of “G-S-V” pulsed through the arena. The fans stayed rooted in their seats, witnessing the closing of the franchise’s first chapter. A one-point loss to the top-seeded Lynx left the Valkyries with a tangle of feelings: the sting of defeat, the pride in all they’d built in just one year, and most of all, gratitude for the journey.
“We’ve become a family through the ups and downs. Stuck together,” said center Temi Fagbenle, who sat out Wednesday in a last-minute decision to nurse a knee injury. “I’m just so proud of how we persevered all season long, through all the injuries, all the changes, and we still were able to make the playoffs, which was a goal of ours and ended with our heads held high.”
But when the offseason officially began for Golden State, a new feeling crept in to join the mix: uncertainty.
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Next year, the Valkyries will no longer be the WNBA’s newest team, as the Portland Fire and Toronto Tempo expansion teams are set to join the league for the 2026 season. With a 23-21 finish, a Coach of the Year, and a Most Improved Player honoree all in the first season, the days of being the overlooked underdog are over for Golden State.
Expectations will shift — but so will just about everything else.
The WNBA and Players Association have yet to come to an agreement for a new collective bargaining agreement, even as the current one expires Oct. 31. That leaves the league’s future revenue-sharing model, roster sizes, and guidelines for the upcoming expansion draft and free agency unknown until a deal is reached.
“We just want fair treatment. We want a fair piece of what we’re owed, what we deserve. We are the business. At the end of the day, without the players, you don’t have the business,” Fagbenle, a Valkyries representative to the Players’ Union, said.
Only two players, Kate Martin and Carla Leite, are under contract for 2026. The rest will join the two-thirds of the WNBA hitting free agency in some form or another this offseason. Unrestricted free agents include Fagbenle, Tiffany Hayes, Kaila Charles, Monique Billings, and Kayla Thornton — they can negotiate with any team beginning in late January. Veronica Burton and Cecilia Zandalasini make up the organization’s pair of restricted free agents.
Golden State’s first-ever draft pick, Justė Jocytė, selected fifth overall last April, is expected to make her WNBA debut with the team in the 2026 season. Jocytė, who will be 20 in November, opted to forgo the Valkyries’ first season and compete for her home country Lithuania in EuroBasket over the summer instead of debuting in the United States.
While Thornton, who suffered a season-ending knee injury in late July, was not present for the organization’s Thursday media availability, the other four unrestricted free agents enthusiastically expressed their desire to return to San Francisco for another season.
“I would love to come back here next year. I’ve had a great experience here,” Billings said. For Hayes, it was a quick “obviously” when asked if she’d like to return.
Kaitlyn Chen, Janelle Salaün, Iliana Rupert, and Laeticia Amihere are all reserved free agents. And while the Valkyries hold the rights to retain these four by extending a qualifying offer, the looming collective bargaining agreement negotiations, the expansion draft that will stock Portland and Toronto’s rosters, and limited protected roster slots add layers of complexity to an already uncertain future.
“We don’t know what’s going to be different, who’s going to stay, who’s going to go, so we have no idea. It’s a hard question to answer right now,” Zandalasini said Thursday.
“We would love to stay on the same team, because we enjoy each other, we had a great time this summer, so that would be our dream,” Zandalasini continued as Martin nodded in agreement beside her. “But, you know, it’s a business, it’s the ‘W.’ It has to grow and expand. And it worked well for this team. … This year we’ve been building this culture, our identity, so we go on from that point.”
But as Fagbenle acknowledged, that winning culture was built on something rare in today’s WNBA: a roster without a traditional star.
“We are a team of sixth women, and that in and of itself is completely different from any other team in this league, just in terms of not having any go-to superstar that other teams have. We all know our worth,” Fagbenle said. “We all know how much we bring to the team. Anyone can step up any given night and carry us and help us. So that’s the beauty of us — that’s our strength.”
The Valkyries’ playoff debut was only the starting line in their ambitious pursuit of a championship within the first five seasons, a goal team owner Joe Lacob has publicly stated. In just one year, they’ve established a winning standard, built an infectious team culture, and set the bar off the court — boasting the league’s highest franchise valuation and breaking attendance records with 23 consecutive home sellouts. With all that momentum, Golden State has already checked off one of its primary goals: becoming one of the most desirable free-agent destinations in the WNBA.
General manager Ohemaa Nyanin and the Valkyries’ basketball operations already attempted and fell short of landing a marquee free agent while roster-building ahead of the inaugural season. There’s little doubt they’ll try again. The only questions are how aggressive they’ll be and how much of the current roster they’re willing to risk to make that leap.
The players, though, see something worth holding onto.
“There’s so much uncertainty, what could we really say? All we know is that the people who we have now are a great foundation to build upon,” Fagbenle said. “Everyone has seen that. So how many of us can they keep together?”