On Wednesday, the Golden State Valkyries — the WNBA’s first expansion team since 2008 — will take to the court for the first time when they face the Los Angeles Sparks at Chase Center in their first preseason game.
On the latest episode of “No Offseason,” Zena Keita, Ben Pickman and Sabreena Merchant discussed what success might look like for the Valkyries’ inaugural season.
Watch the full discussion below.
A partial transcript has been edited for clarity and length. The full episode is available on the “No Offseason” feed on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
Keita: Natalie Nakase (the Valkyries head coach) was very big on keeping things open-minded, and she didn’t want people to come into this space and think, I did it like this in New York. I did like this in Atlanta, or I didn’t like this in Las Vegas. She wanted something that was brand new, and I thought that was really cool to see. Now we’ve got to talk big picture because this year is about setting a foundation, having fun, and there was lots of talk about joy today as well. So what does success look like for the Golden State Valkyries in their first season, Ben?
Pickman: I’m going to steal the phrase that Jonathan Kolb, the New York Liberty GM, used over the weekend. And I cite him as a specific example…
