The Golden State Valkyries became WNBA champions in only their second season by outlasting the Atlanta Dream 68-63 in Game 7 of the WNBA Finals on October 31 at Chase Center.
Gabby Williams, named Finals MVP, scored 30 points on 10-of-23 shooting, including 4-of-8 from 3, and added four blocks in the clincher against Angel Reese’s Dream.
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Joe Lacob’s Call Tipped Gabby Williams Toward the Golden State Valkyries
Speaking to Sue Bird in the “Bird’s Eye View” podcast on Friday, the Valkyries forward called owner Joe Lacob “the tipping point” in her decision to sign with Golden State, recalling a call he made to her in Turkey when she was a free agent who had never won a WNBA title.
Williams was blunt about her priority when she reached the open market this spring: “I was 100% ring-chasing in free agency, and I’m like, no one believes me, but if you were on those calls, if you talked and heard those conversations I had.”
She went on to single out the owner, who reached her by phone in Turkey, where she had spent the previous two seasons with Fenerbahçe.
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“Mr. Joe (Lacob) he definitely was the tipping point for me coming to Golden State, and I was in traffic, he calls me while I’m in Turkey, and he was just like, there’s no one who’s ever going to do it. He’s like, ‘I never lose. I never lose.'”
She recalled her answer to the owner, then pointed to how her WNBA seasons had ended. “I was like, I don’t know how we’re going to do it, but this team is absolutely going to take me where I want to go… I’ve kind of just had like the same disappointing endings over and over again.”
Lacob had put his title ambitions on the record long before that call. He set a five-year championship goal at the 2023 news conference announcing the franchise and, as ESPN reported, repeated it to Natalie Nakase during her October 2024 interview to become head coach: “We’re going to win a championship in five years.”
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Williams, then early in a four-season run with the Seattle Storm, heard that pledge in 2023, and she told ESPN how it hit her.
“I thought I would finish my career in Seattle, but hearing that made me think a little bit. This guy is not playing around; he wants to win.”
Golden State had tried once before. Seattle’s core designation in 2025 left the Storm as the only team allowed to negotiate with Williams, even after Nakase met her in Turkey that year to pitch her.
By the time she reached free agency this year, the Valkyries had become the first W expansion team to reach the playoffs in its debut season, and Lacob teamed with Nakase and general manager Ohemaa Nyanin to court her.
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In her telling, Lacob laid out the franchise’s case in plain terms: “He said, ‘This is why we are going to win. This is why it would be silly for you to go anywhere else. This is why we’re going to have longevity. I want to build dynasties here.'”
Golden State announced her multi-year contract in April. By the end of October, the franchise had beaten Lacob’s five-year timeline with years to spare, and the owner reacted to how quickly it happened as the Valkyries celebrated: “Of course this is unbelievable … Two years? It’s insane.”
In her first season in the Bay, Williams averaged a career-high 14.4 points, shot 34.2% from 3, and finished second in Defensive Player of the Year voting. Her scoring rose from 11.6 points per game in 2025, her final season with Seattle, when she also led the league with 2.3 steals per game.
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Golden State’s defense ranked first in the league during the regular season, allowing a league-low 75.1 points per game, as the Valkyries went 32-12 and finished second in the Western Conference before going on to script history with their title win.
This article originally appeared on Pro Football Network.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: Sports.yahoo.com
