SAN FRANCISCO — For all Joe Lacob has accomplished in his investment ventures and as the owner of the Warriors, even he couldn’t have envisioned how well his expansion Golden State Valkyries have played this season.
The Valkyries made WNBA history as the first expansion team to reach the playoffs in their first year. They surpassed the 1998 Detroit Shock for the most wins by an expansion team and set all-time attendance records by selling out every home game this season, at the 18,064-seat Chase Center. Their first-round playoff series against the league’s top team, the Minnesota Lynx, begins today in Minneapolis (10 a.m., ESPN).
“We exceeded all of our goals and that’s pretty hard to do because I set high goals,” Lacob, the team’s owner, told the Bay Area News Group this week. “I think we wanted to be, on the court, competitive — at least show our fans that we were that. I don’t think we expected to make the playoffs, but we’ve done that.
“On the business side, I think we wanted to fill the lower bowl at Chase Center, and then try to make inroads into the upper bowl over time. I think obviously we’ve exceeded all that.”
Two years ago, Lacob paid a then-record $50 million fee to own Golden State’s expansion team. The Valkyries became the league’s first expansion team in more than 15 years.
Most experts pegged the Valkyries to be one of the worst teams in the league before the season, with popular gambling site BetMGM setting Golden State’s win total at 8.5.
The Valkyries built their roster through the expansion draft with a mix of hard-nosed veterans, mostly unknown international players and intriguing young talent. Golden State also went into the season without its first-round draft pick, Justė Jocytė, who opted to play overseas after being drafted in April. The 19-year-old Lithuanian guard is expected to join the team next season.
Golden State Valkyrie head coach Natalie Nakase gestures to her players while playing against the Washington Mystics in the first quarter of their WNBA game at Chase Center in San Francisco, Calif., on Saturday, Aug. 30, 2025. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)
Lacob credited coach Natalie Nakase — the Associated Press’ coach of the year — and general manager Ohemaa Nyanin for getting the basketball operations running quickly.
“I was really fortunate. I hired a great coach. I hired a great GM that picked really good players that fit complementary on the expansion team,” Lacob said. “We didn’t really get a major free agent, so it’s kind of unexpected in a big way. I would say we’ve just done a terrific job of coming together. As a team, as a coaching staff and the fans, most of all, have been incredibly supportive.”
Lacob’s experience operating the Warriors shaped his philosophy that success comes from building a strong infrastructure first; that investing in leadership, culture and resources will set the foundation for the rest of the franchise, in pro sports or in business.
“I’ve seen it all at this point,” Lacob said. “That experience doing startups in the venture world, it’s what I do. It’s what I like doing. Sequencing all the different things and motivating the team by creating goals and standards while having a vision for everything.”
On the court, the Valkyries built their identity on stopping their opponents.
Golden State selected defensive stalwarts in the expansion draft, such as forwards Kayla Thornton and Monique Billings, and guard Veronica Burton, who on Friday was named the league’s most improved player. Nakase’s background as a coach included stints as an assistant with the Las Vegas Aces and the NBA’s Los Angeles Clippers — two teams that have routinely been among the top defenses in their respective leagues.
“The identity we built was going to be that our defense was going to be what we hang our hats on,” Nakase, a first-time head coach, said. “Our defense was what’s going to travel on the road. Our defense is going to be what we rely on every night. It was going to be how we’re going to win games.”
On the business side, Lacob and the front office knew building a fan base would require more than borrowing from the Warriors’ success. It meant cultivating a new culture and brand that Valkyries fans could gravitate to.
Golden State Valkyries’ Veronica Burton (22) and Golden State Valkyries’ Carla Leite (0) celebrate the go ahead basket against the Dallas Wings towards the end of the fourth quarter of a WNBA game at Chase Center in San Francisco, Calif., on Thursday, Sept. 4, 2025. The Golden State Valkyries clinch a spot in the playoffs after defeating the Dallas Wings 84-80. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)
“The core women’s sports audience is much different than the core men’s sports audience, and it’s additive,” Valkyries president Jess Smith told the Bay Area News Group in June. “People assume it’s a smaller audience, but the reality is that it’s just been understudied. … And what we’re learning here in the Bay Area is that it’s a large audience.
“If you’ve been to a Warriors game and you’ve been to a Valkyries game, it’s much different, right? That’s intentional, and it’s built something that is unmatched.”
Lacob lauded Nakase as “everything I thought of her and more when I met her a year ago, when I was interviewing her.”
On Nyanin, Lacob said, “The question was would she be able to architect a team and put the right pieces together to make for a winning combination? There was no predicting that. This is her first time doing it, and I’d say she’s certainly passed that with flying colors.”
Lacob set lofty goals for the franchise on Day 1, saying last fall that he expected the Valkyries to win a championship within their first five years.
No one has felt those expectations more than Nakase.
“It really wasn’t that we want to, it was that we have to win in five years. Let’s get that straight. Joe doesn’t waver in his expectations,” Nakase said earlier this season.
Though he didn’t expect the Valkyries to make the playoffs this year, Lacob’s five-year championship window hasn’t changed.
“I’m going to leave it at five years. No sense in putting undue pressures,” Lacob said. “But certainly we’re ahead of schedule, and if we continue to do our job on the basketball operation side and player development side … we should be able to continue to improve the team in the next few years.”
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But for all the talk about a long-term vision, Lacob said what stood out this year is more than the wins and losses. It’s been about the people, the culture and the atmosphere the Valkyries built in Year 1.
“I am so proud of this entire experience,” Lacob said, lauding the work of the business and basketball staff to develop an identity.
The feeling of game day at Chase Center is what he prizes most.
“The only thing I can compare it to is in Oakland for the Warriors in 2015. There hadn’t been a winner there in 40 years, and the fans were just so rabid. And I think it’s the same kind of passion and vociferous, loud experience,” he said.
“Every time I bring someone to the arena, it’s hard to explain to them what they’re about to experience.”
The Golden State Valkyries huddle during a time out during the third quarter at the Chase Center in San Francisco, Calif., on Friday, May 16, 2025. (Shae Hammond/Bay Area News Group)