One of the WNBA’s longtime franchises and one of its greatest newcomers will meet for the 2026 championship series starting Saturday, Oct. 16 and whichever team wins will be a first-time champion. The WNBA Finals cannot be scripted better than that. The Atlanta Dream are in their fourth Finals and the teams first since the 2013 season. The Golden State Valkyries have reached the title series in only their second season in the league. Game 1 tips off at 3:30 p.m. ET Saturday at Chase Center in San Francisco, on NBC and Peacock.
The best-of-seven series runs 2-2-1-1-1. The second-seeded Valkyries hold home-court advantage over the fourth-seeded Dream.
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The league and commissioner Cathy Englebert announced Tuesday that Games 3 and 4 will be played at State Farm Arena, not the 3,500-seat Gateway Center Arena in College Park where the Dream play most of their home schedule. State Farm Arena is booked with other events, such as a concert by musical artist Sombr, so the Hawks agreed to push the start of their Oct. 24 home opener against Houston to 8:30 p.m. ET to make room for the Dream.
Game 6 is still slated for Gateway Center. The Dream announced earlier this month that they will play all of their 2027 home games at State Farm Arena. Chase Center in California, which holds more than 18,000 for basketball, has sold out every Valkyries game this season.
Golden State arrives off a three-game sweep of the defending champion Las Vegas Aces and five-time MVP A’ja Wilson. The clincher was an 87-77 overtime win in which four players reached double figures and the bench outscored Las Vegas’ reserves 27-13. Kayla Thornton scored 18 and Gabby Williams added 16, including eight in overtime. Veteran role players have mattered too: former Aces Kiah Stokes and Tiffany Hayes each scored 11, and Stokes grabbed 10 rebounds. Veronica Burton hit a clutch three-pointer to seal the victory from deep in Game 2 of the series.
The Valkyries’ road wasn’t spotless. They needed three games to get past the Dallas Wings in the first round after dropping Game 2 in overtime. They have looked sharpest when their balance and late-game poise have taken over, and Williams’ defensive disruption has repeatedly turned stops into transition points.
Atlanta has not lost this postseason. The Dream swept the Washington Mystics in the first round and then the New York Liberty in the semifinals, with both of the Liberty’s close losses coming by two or three points: 101-98 in overtime in Game 2 and 85-83 in Game 3. Angel Reese, playing in her first postseason, averaged 20.7 points and 7.7 rebounds against the Liberty and scored 22 in the clincher. Allisha Gray and Rhyne Howard round out a perimeter-and-rebounding core that has proven it can win tight games on the road.
The matchup sets Golden State’s depth and poise against Atlanta’s top-end talent and showmanship. The Valkyries’ bench production could tilt the series if Reese and Gray log heavy minutes. Atlanta, meanwhile, has shown it can grind out games in the final possessions, which could matter in a series likely to include several close finishes. Rebounding and turnovers loom as the obvious swing factors. So does the Dream’s ability to steal one in San Francisco, since the format gives Golden State up to four games at home.
Rest should be a wash. Both teams swept their semifinals and have had several days off since the series ended Oct. 9. If Golden State can stay composed against the antics of Atlanta, it’s hard to see a depleted bench for the Dream combating against Golden State.
The path to the title also carries some unfamiliar history for the Dream, who were swept in their first three Finals trips (2010, 2011, 2013). For the Valkyries, simply being here is a milestone. Their appearance is the fastest by an expansion team in WNBA history. However, it’ll all come down to the court — where the two teams tip off Saturday afternoon on national television.
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