The Golden State Valkyries will kick off the team's first-ever WNBA season in mere weeks, and speculation about how that season will go definitely runs the gamut from bottoming out completely to winning a championship.
While the latter would be incredible, it's worth remembering that historically expansion teams have initially struggled throughout their first year.
The Atlanta Dream was added to the WNBA in 2008
When it comes to predicting the success or failure of the Valkyries, we have to go all the way back to 2008, the year the Atlanta Dream debuted. The Dream was announced in January and the expansion draft took place the next month. The Dream added 13 players to its roster in that expansion draft: Carla Thomas, Erika de Souza, Katie Feenstra, Roneeka Hodges, Ann Strother, LaToya Thomas, Kristen Mann, Ann Wauters, Jennifer Lacy, Kristin Haynie, Chantelle Anderson, Betty Lennox, and Yelena Leuchanka.
The team also played its hand in free agency when they traded Thomas to the Detroit Shock in exchange for Ivory Latta, traded Hodges to the Seattle Storm for Iziane Castro Marques, and drafted Tamera Young, Morenike Atunrase, and Danielle Hood that year.
The Dream ultimately suffered 17 straight losses — the longest losing streak at the beginning of a season in WNBA history — from the jump (they're even in the Guinness Book of World Records for "Worst start to a WNBA season, team"). Having said that, the Dream have clearly rebounded and have made it to the playoffs 9 times — though have yet to win a championship.
A bad season can result in a great gain
Despite those setbacks, the Dream came out on top in a major way: their dismal 2008 season (and luck in the lottery) landed the Dream the No. 1 overall pick in the 2009 Draft and Louisville alum Angel McCoughtry joined the squad.
Though the Valkyires have made it clear they want to win as much as possible this season (and honestly, who doesn't want to see them thrive?), tanking might not necessarily result in a worst case scenario for the new team — and it could even land Golden State Lauren Betts.
Betts, who was draft-eligible in 2025 due to her birthday, opted to skip the WNBA Draft this year and will instead play one season with her sister at UCLA before she graduates and goes pro. It's early to make predictions, but she's largely expected to be drafted at the No. 1 position (or very close to it), something the Valkyries might get to take advantage of.