One game will decide the 2026 WNBA championship. The Atlanta Dream and the Golden State Valkyries play Saturday night at Chase Center in the first Game 7 in WNBA Finals history, and whichever team wins will take home the first championship in its franchise’s history. Tipoff is set for 8 p.m. ET on USA Network and Peacock.
Atlanta arrives with momentum it did not have a week ago. Facing elimination at State Farm Arena on Thursday, the Dream beat the Valkyries 80-69 in a game that was more lopsided than the final score suggests. Atlanta scored 32 points in the first quarter, led by as many as 25, and held Golden State to 31.4 percent shooting. Allisha Gray led the Dream with 23 points and made five of her seven 3-point attempts, even though she has said she is not fully healthy because of a hand injury. Rhyne Howard added 21 points. Angel Reese had 15 points and 14 rebounds, her fourth double-double of the series, one game after struggling offensively in Game 5. After the win, Reese said the Dream needed some swagger and confidence and that the team was in a great headspace.
Getting here took some work. Golden State took Game 1 at home 68-64 after Atlanta faded in the fourth quarter. The Dream answered with two convincing wins: 79-65 in Game 2, when Reese had 30 points and 16 rebounds, and a 97-71 rout in Game 3 in front of a sellout crowd in Atlanta. The Valkyries’ defense then won the next two games 67-62 and 64-55. That made Atlanta the first team since 2013 held to 65 points or fewer in back-to-back Finals losses, and it put Golden State one win from the title. Atlanta’s response on Thursday has the series even again.
For the Valkyries, the stakes go beyond one trophy. Golden State is only in its second season. It went 32-12, the second-best record in the league, after setting the expansion record for wins as an inaugural team last year. A win Saturday would make the Valkyries the fastest expansion team in the four major North American men’s leagues since 1967 to win a championship, according to Elias Sports Bureau. It would also make them the first WNBA champion without an All-WNBA player on its roster. Natalie Nakase’s team built that identity on defense, allowing a league-low 75.1 points per game in the regular season, and on shooting, where it set WNBA records for 3-pointers made and attempted. Gabby Williams has led the offense this postseason at 20.3 points per game and scored 26 in Game 6. Kiah Stokes has set a Finals record with 17 blocked shots, and a title would give her four championships in her career.
Golden State will also have its crowd behind it. The Valkyries have sold out 52 straight home games across the regular season and postseason since their debut in 2025, and they had the league’s best home record this year. The atmosphere at Chase Center will be one more thing Atlanta has to overcome.
The Dream have been to the Finals three times before, in 2010, 2011 and 2013, and lost each time. This group, under second-year head coach Karl Smesko, has been one of the league’s best defensive teams. Reese, the WNBA Defensive Player of the Year, and Howard were named to the All-Defensive First Team, Jordin Canada made the Second Team, and the three finished first, second and third in the league in steals per game. Atlanta will again be without Brionna Jones, who is out with a left leg injury, and Te-Hina Paopao is listed as questionable with a left leg injury.
There are a few connections to Atlanta on the other bench. Tiffany Hayes spent 10 seasons with the Dream and helped lead them to the 2013 Finals, and she is averaging 11.8 points in this series for Golden State. Laeticia Amihere was a Dream draft pick before the 2024 expansion draft sent her to the Valkyries. Hayes now has a chance to win the title she never won in Atlanta.
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