3 Things the Valkyries can learn from the WNBA's last expansion team

The Golden State Valkyries are the WNBA's first expansion team since 2008. What can the Valkyries learn from the Atlanta Dream?

Atlanta Dream v New York Liberty - Game Two
Atlanta Dream v New York Liberty - Game Two | Sarah Stier/GettyImages

It has been 16 years since the last time the WNBA expanded when the Atlanta Dream were introduced to the league. We have seen relocations and total resets, but expanding is a unique challenge. Nothing truly compares to starting from the ground up.

The league is in a much different place going into the 2025 season then it was in 2008. Even with those changes, many things stay the same. It certainly can’t hurt to look at the journey of the Dream as a franchise and figure out some of the dos and don'ts for the Golden State Valkyries as they enter year one. 

1. Intertwine yourself with the community

One thing the Atlanta Dream have done better than anyone in the entire WNBA over the years is making themselves a franchise that reflects their city. 

Something that has really set Atlanta apart, and now has been replicated across different franchises, is their theme nights. It sounds simple -- I completely understand that, but theme nights such as Divine Nine Night are something that not only welcomes but actively invites the culture of Atlanta into the arena.

The biggest complaint with the Dream when it comes to their ticketing strategy is simply capacity. Only 3,500 seats are available for Dream games at Gateway Center Arena. This skews their averages and totals when compared to the rest of the WNBA, where the rest of the teams play with larger capacities, but when it comes to having the bowl filled and energy in the building, the Dream has shown they can make that happen. 

For the Valkyries, selling tickets has been no issue. The team announced on November 12th that they had surpassed 20,000 season-ticket deposits. The people will be there, but the team would be wise to take notes from the Dream on emphasizing the importance of community in the long term.

2. Be ready to capitalize on success

After a rough first season with a record of 4-30, the Dream would end up going to the playoffs in six straight seasons. Out of those six, three ended with losses in the WNBA Finals. To this day, the Dream still do not have a ring and haven’t been back to the pinnacle of WNBA basketball since 2013.

The six-year run that the Dream went on coincided with the team drafting Angel McCoughtry. McCoughtry was one of the best two-way players in the league, averaging 20+ points in four of the six seasons while being on a WNBA All-Defensive Team in five out of the six years. She was second in Defensive Player of the Year votes the year she wasn’t named to an All-Defensive team. The oddities of award voting!

This is all brought up to say, stay ready to capitalize and build a championship-caliber roster -- especially with the talent coming out in the next couple of drafts. Success might be on your doorstep earlier than expected. When it knocks, let it in and let it stay for a while because you don’t know if or when success will come back. 

3. Avoid the middle of the pack

The early history of the Dream contains what was discussed above, recent history has just been…meh?

The worst place to be in sports is the middle of the pack. That is where the Dream have found themselves a lot since their six-year run. Often not bad enough to strive for a top draft pick, but also not good enough to make a deep playoff. Instead, just existing, in a way.

For the Valkyries, this is the worst case scenario. Obviously, immediate success would be incredibly welcomed. Nobody is going to say no to winning! But if the franchise finds itself amidst the middle ground with no way to continue building, it is okay to start over! 

Now this isn’t to say that the current iteration of the Dream should start over, as they have a talented roster on paper, but they understood changes needed to be made and made that in the form of bringing in Karl Smesko as the new head coach. 

If you are the Valkyries, you can’t let these drafts slip by. Players like JuJu Watkins, Hannah Hidalgo, and Madison Booker are not players you should miss out on for a first round exit in the WNBA Playoffs. They are players you draft and build around to win WNBA Championships. 

Ultimately, we must wait and see how the Valkyries’ roster forms in the upcoming expansion draft plus who they draft from the fifth spot in the WNBA Draft. Once we see the roster in action, we will gain a greater idea of what path the franchise might be on.

No matter what the immediate results look like, there is plenty to learn both on and off the court from what the Atlanta Dream have done since their first season in 2009.