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2026 WNBA FINALS Preview: Atlanta Dream vs Golden State Valkyries · Hoops for Hotties

0:00
SPEAKER_00: You guys, the WMBA finals this year, if you do not watch it, I swear to God, you will be missing out.
0:08
SPEAKER_00: But don't worry, today you are going to get a comprehensive breakdown.
0:11
SPEAKER_00: Whether you're a casual fan, a constant watcher, obsessor over the WNBA, I'm going to tell you everything you need to know to enjoy this series.
0:20
SPEAKER_00: So without further ado, my name is Mariah Rose.
0:23
SPEAKER_00: I am your host, and this is the Hoops for Hoddies Live Show.
0:26
SPEAKER_00: I come on live every Thursday on TikTok, YouTube, Twitch, all the things, all the places to tell you all the sports tea that you need to know live and in and kind of in person.
0:39
SPEAKER_00: And this is the classroom for the girls, the gays of the days and the straight men who don't admit they don't know anything about sports to learn about all things sports.
0:47
SPEAKER_00: So without further ado, to make sure that class is in session and I'm not just teaching myself and talking to myself, I'm going to be taking attendance.
0:54
SPEAKER_00: So if you are awake and alive in the chat, please say present.
1:09
SPEAKER_00: So today we are going to be giving a full WNBA finals preview.
1:14
SPEAKER_00: I'm just gonna go ahead and start.
1:15
SPEAKER_00: So the WNBA finals this year are going to be played between the Atlanta Dream and the Golden State Valkyries.
1:23
SPEAKER_00: Both teams are looking for their first ever WNBA championship.
1:27
SPEAKER_00: So no matter what happens, we are going to have a brand new champion.
1:31
SPEAKER_00: This will be a seven-game series, and Golden State is the higher seed, so they are going to be hosting the first two games and have home court advantage.
1:39
SPEAKER_00: Both teams swept recent champions to get here.
1:42
SPEAKER_00: The Atlanta Dream have not lost a game the entire playoffs, and the Golden State Valkyries just swept the defending champion Las Vegas Aces with the five-time MVP to get to the finals.
1:54
SPEAKER_00: Golden State went 3-0 against Atlanta in their regular season series.
2:00
SPEAKER_00: Atlanta didn't beat Golden State at all.
2:02
SPEAKER_00: But the interesting thing about this is all of their games were during an 11-game stretch.
2:07
SPEAKER_00: So a short period of time in the first half of the WNBA season, and a lot has changed since then, especially about the Atlanta Dream.
2:14
SPEAKER_00: So I'm not sure how accurate that is, but because of that, the Golden State Valkyries are favored to win the series slightly, but it is going to be close.
2:23
SPEAKER_00: I can guarantee you that.
2:24
SPEAKER_00: Golden State is only in its second season as a franchise, which we are going to get into a little bit later.
2:29
SPEAKER_00: And they are the first ever$1 billion WNBA team.
2:34
SPEAKER_00: And Atlanta hasn't been to the finals since 2013 and added a special little angel to get them over the hump.
2:42
SPEAKER_00: The final schedule, now write this down because I am going to tell you when all of the games are so that you can be watching.
2:49
SPEAKER_00: Game one is on Saturday.
2:50
SPEAKER_00: This Saturday at Golden State.
2:52
SPEAKER_00: That is October the 17th.
2:55
SPEAKER_00: Monday, October the 19th, Golden State will also host.
2:59
SPEAKER_00: And then on Wednesday, uh October the 21st, Atlanta will be hosting game three.
3:04
SPEAKER_00: Game four will be Saturday on October 24th in Atlanta.
3:08
SPEAKER_00: And games five through seven will happen.
3:09
SPEAKER_00: And if necessary, you'll see my face again before then.
3:12
SPEAKER_00: So I'll tell you when to watch those games, okay?
3:14
SPEAKER_00: Now, I'm curious what you guys think in the chat.
3:18
SPEAKER_00: Um, I'm going to get into all of the teams.
3:21
SPEAKER_00: I'm going to introduce you to both teams.
3:23
SPEAKER_00: But as I'm explaining, I'm curious what you guys think about who has the better story coming into the finals.
3:28
SPEAKER_00: If you're watching on YouTube, be sure to comment who has the better story coming to the finals between these two teams.
3:34
SPEAKER_00: And does Golden State sweeping Atlanta in the regular season actually matter?
3:38
SPEAKER_00: As I said, it was during an 11-game stretch in the first half of the season, but they look like a totally different team.
3:44
SPEAKER_00: And who are we rooting for in the chat?
3:47
SPEAKER_00: I need you guys to tell me who you're rooting for.
3:49
SPEAKER_00: I obviously have both jerseys here.
3:51
SPEAKER_00: I've worked with the Valkyries and love everything they're doing for women's basketball, but I am from Atlanta.
3:56
SPEAKER_00: And unfortunately, yes, there's a little bit of bias here towards Atlanta.
4:00
SPEAKER_00: I am rooting for the Atlanta dream, but don't worry, you'll still get the best coverage here on Hoops for Hotties.
4:06
SPEAKER_00: Now, let's get into a Hoops for Hotties University segment.
4:09
SPEAKER_00: Meet the teams.
4:11
SPEAKER_00: We are going to be starting with the Golden State Valkyries, our new kid on the block.
4:15
SPEAKER_00: Both of these teams have very different rises to the same destination.
4:20
SPEAKER_00: Now, the Golden State Valkyries are only in their second season as a WNBA franchise.
4:26
SPEAKER_00: They are brand new.
4:28
SPEAKER_00: The big question is, how does a team that literally just joined the league make the finals so quickly?
4:35
SPEAKER_00: They made the playoffs in their first ever season.
4:37
SPEAKER_00: Their coach, Natalie Nakase, the first Asian American coach in the WNBA, was coach of the year in her first season as a WNBA head coach for an expansion team.
4:49
SPEAKER_00: Now they're playing for a championship in year two and swept the defending champion Las Vegas Aces in the semifinals, including an overtime win.
4:56
SPEAKER_00: They are known for their aggressive and suffocating defense.
5:00
SPEAKER_00: Their whole identity is in being a crazy defensive presence.
5:05
SPEAKER_00: To meet their stars, Gabby Williams is their franchise player and known as one of the best two-way players in the league.
5:12
SPEAKER_00: She was drafted fourth overall to the Chicago Sky.
5:16
SPEAKER_00: Doesn't that remind you of somebody else playing in these finals?
5:19
SPEAKER_00: Huh?
5:20
SPEAKER_00: And she went from having everything you could ever imagine as a star in college to being in Chicago.
5:27
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
5:28
SPEAKER_00: And the way Gabby has described it is Chicago didn't invest in women's basketball because they didn't believe that it was a product that people wanted to buy.
5:36
SPEAKER_00: And this is a quote direct from Gabby, but being in Golden State, they really truly invest in women's basketball because they believe it is a product that people want to buy, which we will get into.
5:47
SPEAKER_00: Gabby Williams is now one of our WNBA millionaires.
5:51
SPEAKER_00: She was an all-star having a career season and is leading the Golden State Valkyries into the WNBA finals.
5:58
SPEAKER_00: Kayla Thornton is another major piece to their defense.
6:02
SPEAKER_00: They overall are a really good team, but I think the interesting thing about an expansion team, you guys, is when you are a new team coming into the WNBA, where do you get your players?
6:14
SPEAKER_00: You get them from the unprotected list from other teams.
6:18
SPEAKER_00: What does that mean?
6:19
SPEAKER_00: Basically, when you're a new team and you're like, hey, I want to join the WNBA, they say, okay, you need players.
6:26
SPEAKER_00: So every single team that is already in the WNBA gets to make their protected list of players.
6:31
SPEAKER_00: They get to say, Asia Wilson, you can't have her.
6:34
SPEAKER_00: Chelsea Gray, you can't have her.
6:36
SPEAKER_00: They make a list of players, and then the Golden State Valkyrie's get to draft their players from the unprotected list of players.
6:44
SPEAKER_00: I am mean.
6:45
SPEAKER_00: So I call this, I call this drafting from the WNBA rejects.
6:49
SPEAKER_00: Okay, they literally get to pick their players from the reject file.
6:52
SPEAKER_00: And typically in expansion teams in both the NBA and WNBA history, this means that their roster is less high quality.
7:01
SPEAKER_00: Okay, their roster are the kids on the block that nobody wanted to have a chip on their shoulder.
7:06
SPEAKER_00: That's basically how it works, right?
7:09
SPEAKER_00: But the Golden State Bafferies have some international talent that they were able to get.
7:13
SPEAKER_00: They have some players that had something to prove in the WNBA that they were able to get.
7:18
SPEAKER_00: And they built an incredible culture around them to succeed.
7:23
SPEAKER_00: The interesting thing here is they are built under the infrastructure of the Golden State Warriors.
7:30
SPEAKER_00: They have the same ownership as the Golden State Warriors, a dynasty in men's basketball, and they treated their women's basketball team the same way they treat the Warriors, but at a whole different scale, meaning they hired a whole different team to run the business for the Valkyrie.
7:45
SPEAKER_00: So they get their own team, their own attention, their own things, but they are built under an NBA structure.
7:52
SPEAKER_00: Does that make sense?
7:52
SPEAKER_00: So they everything is high quality, everything is giving.
7:55
SPEAKER_00: But we're gonna get into that a little bit later in the show.
7:57
SPEAKER_00: I just wanted to introduce you to this team.
7:59
SPEAKER_00: And then you've also got their coach, Natalie Nakase, who built an incredible culture over there, and they built a system to where the Valkyries can succeed, and they really have a chip on their shoulder which goes into this whole like defensive, like we're not for the flashy offensive thing, like we're gonna beat you on defense, and they really are getting it at the mud low key, getting it out the Golden Gate Bridge, like yeah, they're getting it out the bet.
8:22
SPEAKER_00: Now I will introduce you to the Atlanta Dream.
8:26
SPEAKER_00: Okay, that is my hometown squad, and it is crazy how much has changed with the Atlanta Dream just from the beginning of this season.
8:35
SPEAKER_00: So the big question is can Atlanta finally win its first championship, especially against a team that already beat them three times this season?
8:45
SPEAKER_00: Well, the Atlanta Dream are going into the WNBA finals, undefeated.
8:50
SPEAKER_00: Okay, didn't lose a game the entire postseason.
8:53
SPEAKER_00: That is very hard to do, especially against a team like the New York Liberty with Sabrina UNESCO and Stewie and winners.
9:00
SPEAKER_00: So they are proven, right?
9:02
SPEAKER_00: This is their first finals appearance since 2013.
9:05
SPEAKER_00: But the Atlanta Dream have previously made the finals in 2010, 2011, and 2013, but have never won.
9:11
SPEAKER_00: So the difference between these two teams is the Atlanta Dream are coming in with finals history and experience as a franchise, but have never won.
9:18
SPEAKER_00: Meanwhile, the Valkyries are brand new to this, okay?
9:21
SPEAKER_00: Angel Reese, Ryan Howard, Alicia Gray, and Jordan Canada are the names to know on this team.
9:27
SPEAKER_00: And the reason why it feels like there's so many is because everyone plays a different role, everyone has different talents, and they really all work together so beautifully.
9:37
SPEAKER_00: Angel Reese leads the league and rebounds this season and is also the defensive player of the year coming in with a chip on her shoulder.
9:43
SPEAKER_00: And we're gonna get into Angel and we're gonna get into all these players in more detail a little bit later in the show.
9:49
SPEAKER_00: But those are the names that you need to know.
9:51
SPEAKER_00: Ryan Howard is a major three-point threat, but as an Atlanta fan, I'll keep it very for real with you guys.
9:58
SPEAKER_00: They can be a little bit, or she can be a little bit inconsistent, okay?
10:04
SPEAKER_00: When the shot is falling, it is super dangerous.
10:06
SPEAKER_00: But when the shot is not falling, it's like but she is also a former number one pick, and I that was actually my first WNBA draft that I ever worked where we picked her number one overall.
10:16
SPEAKER_00: So I mean she's incredibly talented, and then you've got Jordan Canada, who's running the offense, Alicia Gray, who's one of our best scorers, our leading score, literally like the backbone of this team.
10:28
SPEAKER_00: But she recently had a minor hand procedure, so her availability is the question will Alicia Gray be playing?
10:35
SPEAKER_00: The issue that this presents for the Valkyries is not only did Alicia Gray get hurt at the beginning of the playoffs, and now she's out, but we're not sure if she's gonna be playing, had a minor hand procedure.
10:47
SPEAKER_00: That puts the Valkyries in a sticky situation, right?
10:50
SPEAKER_00: Because they're coming in with their coach, having previously coached with the aces and really knowing the aces.
10:55
SPEAKER_00: Okay, really knowing them inside and out.
10:58
SPEAKER_00: Meanwhile, the Atlanta Dream not only acquired Duana Bonner, who's now on the roster, who is a previous champion, who is one of the WNBA's leading scorers, who is a veteran presence, right?
11:08
SPEAKER_00: Who has this championship experience?
11:10
SPEAKER_00: They didn't have her when they played the Valkyries last.
11:12
SPEAKER_00: They got her like right before the playoffs, which also is a rule that will probably be changed.
11:16
SPEAKER_00: In the WNBA, like you can't just you can't just get a new player right before the playoffs and throw everybody off, and also your star player, your leading scorer, is out or not out.
11:29
SPEAKER_00: How are we supposed to prepare uh for what the Atlanta Dream are gonna look like in the finals when there are so many different options, right?
11:36
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna move on from this segment.
11:37
SPEAKER_00: That is a little intro to both teams to go into a little scandal study hall.
11:43
SPEAKER_00: Oh, this is always my favorite segment because I am so the town prior and I love to talk gossip, but we are going to be talking some WMBA gossip, and we are gonna be talking about the Atlanta Dreams Arena drama and the graphic heard around the world because I think a lot of you saw me complaining about this on my TikTok page, but if you didn't, I'm going to break it down.
12:02
SPEAKER_00: And I'm sorry this is if this is redundant, if you've already heard about this, but you guys know this got my panties in a in a twist, okay?
12:08
SPEAKER_00: The dream normally plays at Gateway Center in College Park, okay, which is much smaller than State Farm Arena, is more comparable to a high school arena than to a big to Chase Center where the Golden State Valkyries play.
12:24
SPEAKER_00: Okay, they play in front of 18,000 people every single night.
12:27
SPEAKER_00: Balhalla is loud, that's where the Valkyries play.
12:30
SPEAKER_00: Meanwhile, the Dream are playing in front of like 3,500 people.
12:34
SPEAKER_00: Now, I will say I have been to Gateway and I love the Gateway.
12:38
SPEAKER_00: Like Gateway holds a very special place in my heart.
12:40
SPEAKER_00: It's so loud in there, and because it's smaller, it's like very intimate.
12:42
SPEAKER_00: You feel like you're making eye contact with the players, there's not a bad seat in the house.
12:46
SPEAKER_00: It was really, really nice.
12:47
SPEAKER_00: So I don't want it to ever come off like I'm shitting on Gateway, but sometimes the girls move on to bigger and better.
12:54
SPEAKER_00: Okay, it's just a part of life.
12:56
SPEAKER_00: Just because you're moving on to new bigger beginnings doesn't mean you hate where you're you came from.
13:02
SPEAKER_00: It just means in order to grow, you have to move forward.
13:06
SPEAKER_00: Okay, and now the dream, because they've gotten so popular, which I attribute some of that growth and that popularity to the fact that they have Angel Reese now on the team, right?
13:14
SPEAKER_00: This girl has five million Instagram followers.
13:16
SPEAKER_00: An Instagram post alone from her costs hundreds of thousands of fucking dollars because she can move the needle, right?
13:22
SPEAKER_00: So having her play in front of 3,500 people, I mean, come on, that's like a bad day of likes on an Instagram post.
13:28
SPEAKER_00: Like bad, bad, bad for Angel Reese, right?
13:31
SPEAKER_00: So it's time to move on to a bigger arena.
13:33
SPEAKER_00: They played six regular season games, I believe, in State Farm Arena, and then they also played all of their postseason games in State Farm Arena, and they went undefeated in the postseason, okay?
13:43
SPEAKER_00: I went to a game in State Farm that the Dream were playing, and it was absolutely rockin' and that bitch.
13:51
SPEAKER_00: Absolutely rocking and that bitch.
13:52
SPEAKER_00: It was loud, everyone was standing up.
13:54
SPEAKER_00: My boyfriend came to his first WNBA game, he said it was so much fun.
13:57
SPEAKER_00: Like the fans are so different.
13:58
SPEAKER_00: And I will say this real quick, and I'm not trying to be messy.
14:01
SPEAKER_00: I used to work for the Atlanta Hawks, which I've told you guys a million times.
14:04
SPEAKER_00: I was a social media assistant, I like did social media for them, and I would take little videos, and it was the start of my career after I graduated college.
14:11
SPEAKER_00: So I love the Hawks, and I'm a Hawks fan.
14:13
SPEAKER_00: I'm from Atlanta, but I will say, and anyone who worked for the Hawks would agree with me on this in private.
14:19
SPEAKER_00: Um, the fans of the Hawks, well, we have one of the best, I believe, game experiences in the whole NBA.
14:25
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I've been to the Celtics, I've been to Golden State, I've been to Madison Square Garden, all incredible experiences.
14:31
SPEAKER_00: But there's something different about Atlanta.
14:32
SPEAKER_00: There's something different about the Hawks, the rap music, the liquor flowing, like the it's just there's something different about it.
14:39
SPEAKER_00: I'm sorry.
14:40
SPEAKER_00: And the fans are a little bit bougerella, okay?
14:45
SPEAKER_00: Hawks fans come to that bitch to get a fit off.
14:47
SPEAKER_00: All of the girls are in stilettos, so they're they're not doing a lot of moving and getting up quickly, and people are there to get a look off and to go Hawks.
15:01
SPEAKER_00: Like when they're saying, when they're saying, and uh somebody said you have to go come to Detroit for a Pistons game.
15:08
SPEAKER_00: I also went to a Pistons game.
15:09
SPEAKER_00: It was my first time ever on the on the Jumbo Tron.
15:11
SPEAKER_00: So I've been a little Caesars, but I I will say when you're in a Hawks game and they say D D fence, Dee Deepness.
15:21
SPEAKER_00: Look, this this be the Hawks manage, ready?
15:27
SPEAKER_00: Yes, Demons.
15:30
SPEAKER_00: Even even the men.
15:32
SPEAKER_00: So don't even like don't even don't even ain't nobody sharing demons at the fucking Hawks games, bruh.
15:37
SPEAKER_00: Like, ain't nobody yelling demons at the Hawks games, bruh.
15:40
SPEAKER_00: So like it's and someone said that gives LA to me.
15:43
SPEAKER_00: That is at LA means black Hollywood.
15:46
SPEAKER_00: It is it's literally LA, but it's black people.
15:47
SPEAKER_00: Like, they don't even put t-shirts on the chairs because ain't nobody wearing that shit.
15:52
SPEAKER_00: The fuck?
15:53
SPEAKER_00: The fuck?
15:55
SPEAKER_00: I'm in another fucking scaparelli corset, bitch.
15:57
SPEAKER_00: You think I'm gonna put on a Hawk's t-shirt?
16:00
SPEAKER_00: I didn't plan my bit around that.
16:02
SPEAKER_00: No, mess up my hair, get my wig shifted.
16:05
SPEAKER_00: I don't even wear wigs, but my wig don't shift because you want me to put on a fucking t-shirt.
16:09
SPEAKER_00: This ain't the next.
16:09
SPEAKER_00: Hell nah.
16:10
SPEAKER_00: Hawks fans are bougie as fuck.
16:12
SPEAKER_00: Dream fans aren't like that.
16:14
SPEAKER_00: Dream fans aren't like that.
16:15
SPEAKER_00: Anyone who lives in Atlanta, come on, close on me.
16:17
SPEAKER_00: If anyone who lives in Atlanta is in the chat, you go to a dream game, people go defense.
16:22
SPEAKER_00: Oh my god.
16:22
SPEAKER_00: And at every Atlanta sporting event, you're supposed to swag surf in the fourth quarter.
16:26
SPEAKER_00: People don't do that shit at the Hawks games.
16:28
SPEAKER_00: Only during the playoffs.
16:29
SPEAKER_00: They don't swag surf.
16:30
SPEAKER_00: At the dream games, people get up and they swag surf.
16:32
SPEAKER_00: Even the mayor, bitch.
16:34
SPEAKER_00: Like, it's it's it's just not, it's just not Hawks fans are bougie as fuck they are.
16:39
SPEAKER_00: And I mean, Hawks fans don't have as much to cheer for.
16:42
SPEAKER_00: I had somebody get mad at me because when I was explaining this arena debacle and situation, I literally said, number one, the Hawks haven't been to the NBA final since 1961.
16:55
SPEAKER_00: And when you compare the Hawks to the dream, and I'm never, you're not coming here for me to that, maybe in my young age when I used to argue with random men on the internet, but you're never coming here and you're gonna hear me compare, be like, oh, Angel Reese could be this NFL NBA player, or but compare the women and the men, because I do I think that does a disservice to the women's game.
17:13
SPEAKER_00: I really do.
17:14
SPEAKER_00: I don't think that pushes anything forward.
17:15
SPEAKER_00: I think that that makes everyone tune you out in conversation.
17:17
SPEAKER_00: Like I'd you'll never catch me doing that.
17:19
SPEAKER_00: What I was trying to say is when you compare what the dream are in the WNBA to what the Hawks are in comparison to their NBA male counterparts, okay?
17:30
SPEAKER_00: The dream are much better in respect to the WNBA hierarchy than the Hawks are.
17:36
SPEAKER_00: And that is simply proven by the fact that the dream are in the finals for the first time since 2013.
17:42
SPEAKER_00: The Hawks haven't been to the finals since 1961.
17:46
SPEAKER_00: Like it's just, it's just not, it's just not.
17:49
SPEAKER_00: And as much as I love Nikhil Alexander Walker and Jalen Johnson and CJ McCollum, none of those niggas in comparison to other NBA stars are holding a candle to what Angel Reese is in the in the WNBA.
18:02
SPEAKER_00: That was my point, okay?
18:06
SPEAKER_00: Just and I that's me being fair as a Hawks fan and somebody who wants the Hawks to win.
18:10
SPEAKER_00: That's just me being fair.
18:11
SPEAKER_00: So when we get into this whole arena debacle, with the finals coming up, the dream obviously needed a bigger arena to accommodate the demand.
18:20
SPEAKER_00: And they had already won every single postseason game that they played in State Farm Arena.
18:24
SPEAKER_00: So why the fuck will we fuck with the Juju?
18:26
SPEAKER_00: I mean, are there any are there any other so superstitious sports fans in the chat?
18:32
SPEAKER_00: We're not, we won every single game here.
18:33
SPEAKER_00: We're not moving.
18:34
SPEAKER_00: Are you kidding?
18:34
SPEAKER_00: Are you joking?
18:35
SPEAKER_00: Please calm down.
18:36
SPEAKER_00: So they wanted to play their finals games, obviously, in State Farm Arena.
18:40
SPEAKER_00: These alarm bells started ringing when they were in the conference finals against the Liberty.
18:44
SPEAKER_00: There aren't conferences in the WNBA, but you get what I mean.
18:47
SPEAKER_00: When they were in the semifinals, right?
18:50
SPEAKER_00: And people were like, Well, it appears that on the days that the Dream would be hosting the WNBA Finals, there is a somber concert and two Hawks games, including their home opener against the Houston Rockets, which I understand that a somber concert might be a big deal to somebody.
19:06
SPEAKER_00: It ain't a big deal to me in comparison to the WNBA Finals.
19:10
SPEAKER_00: And you say, Mariah, but they can't just, it's money, it's business.
19:14
SPEAKER_00: They can't just move a concert because the dream went to the finals.
19:17
SPEAKER_00: Sorry.
19:18
SPEAKER_00: But I I beg to differ because the Golden State Valkyries, who are a perfectly run organization, which we'll get into later in the show, moved a Doja Cat concert.
19:28
SPEAKER_00: So they could host their uh WNBA finals games.
19:31
SPEAKER_00: And their team president gave an incredible quote basically stating that their ownership knows it's a priority that the Valkyries are playing in Chase Center during the WNBA Finals.
19:40
SPEAKER_00: This isn't just some fucking regular Tuesday, okay?
19:43
SPEAKER_00: And so they are going to make it a priority, and whatever needs to be moved, because that's how stadium bookings work.
19:48
SPEAKER_00: If it's tentative, if something needs to move, something is going to move, they're going to move it.
19:52
SPEAKER_00: Period.
19:53
SPEAKER_00: Because they it they have priority.
19:55
SPEAKER_00: And so that statement alone made the Atlanta Dream and Hawks ownerships look so bad because it's like, okay, we know what our priorities are.
20:04
SPEAKER_00: Obviously, our teams need to have the arena when it is time.
20:07
SPEAKER_00: It's obvious.
20:08
SPEAKER_00: Obviously, where this gets interesting is that the Hawks are owned by Tony Wrestler and the Dream are owned by a three-member investment group.
20:17
SPEAKER_00: Okay, they're owned by different parties.
20:19
SPEAKER_00: So if the Hawks are like, look, it doesn't help my bottom line if the dream have the arena instead of my team on opening night, and the dream owners are like, Well, I mean, it's we're in the finest, they don't, it's not benefiting the same people.
20:33
SPEAKER_00: However, they end up working things out, right?
20:35
SPEAKER_00: And Hawk CEO Steve Coonan gave a quote saying that everyone involved wanted to do what was best for basketball in Atlanta, including the Hawks ownership, the dream ownership, and the executives at State Farm Arena, the TV networks, and the leagues, because it makes Atlanta Atlanta basketball look fucking brain dead if the Valkyries can move a doja cat concert in 15 seconds, get their people in the arena, and they you watch it on TV and the Valkyries have chasing or bumping with 18,000 people, and then you watch the Atlanta game on TV and they're playing in a high school gym basically.
21:06
SPEAKER_00: It would make Atlanta basketball overall look bad.
21:09
SPEAKER_00: It's bad business, it's embarrassing.
21:11
SPEAKER_00: And so they were able to work things out.
21:12
SPEAKER_00: I also got really pissed off at the Hawks when they posted that fuck ass graphic when The Dream made the finals, congratulating them on making the finals, which I think is a great thing to do, right?
21:24
SPEAKER_00: And again, I have been a part of an NBA social team at the Hawks.
21:28
SPEAKER_00: So I know these things work.
21:29
SPEAKER_00: These people work so hard, the graphics team worked so hard.
21:31
SPEAKER_00: Look, I did it.
21:33
SPEAKER_00: But they posted a graphic, and it was like congratulations on making the finals dream.
21:38
SPEAKER_00: And they had, I think it was Akila Alexander Walker and Jalen Johnson in the graphic next to, and this is like me testing my memory like Angel Jordan Canada, and I can't remember who the third person was.
21:51
SPEAKER_00: Alicia Grare, leading scorer, was not on the graphic, which already was a little bit like eh.
21:55
SPEAKER_00: I kind of understand because she wasn't playing, but that that was less that pissed a lot.
22:00
SPEAKER_00: Off in the comments that that pissed me off a little bit less.
22:02
SPEAKER_00: I didn't like the fact that the men were in the graphic, and a lot of people came back at me when I inevitably ranted about this.
22:08
SPEAKER_00: And I hope you guys know when I make those rants, when I go off on a tangent about that shit, I piss a lot of people off.
22:14
SPEAKER_00: Okay, I piss a lot of people off, including like my management.
22:18
SPEAKER_00: It was Ryan.
22:19
SPEAKER_00: Ryan was the other woman, including like my management and the people who want to get me paid because I piss off the teams and the leagues and the buttons and I don't give a fuck.
22:27
SPEAKER_00: My thing is this I understand that that is what happened in the past.
22:32
SPEAKER_00: I saw somebody put in the comments the Indiana Fever social account posted a congratulations to the Pacers for making the finals, their NBA counterpart, and they had Caitlin Clark and somebody else in the graphic, and they were like, see, WNBA teams do too.
22:49
SPEAKER_00: I also think that's stupid.
22:50
SPEAKER_00: Okay, the only reason this one rang off alarm bells in my head is because the last time the Atlanta Dream made the finals was 2013, and I was somewhere in middle school.
22:58
SPEAKER_00: And the last time the Hawks made the finals, I was it was 1961, bitch.
23:02
SPEAKER_00: I wasn't even a fucking thought in my parents' fucking mind because they weren't alive.
23:06
SPEAKER_00: Okay, so this being my Atlanta teams that I follow, seeing this for the first time, shook me to my core.
23:13
SPEAKER_00: If the dream did it to the Hawks, I also would have thought that shit was fucking stupid.
23:16
SPEAKER_00: They made it to the finals, not you.
23:23
SPEAKER_00: So therefore, why would a man be there?
23:25
SPEAKER_00: Why does he need to be in the graphic?
23:26
SPEAKER_00: And on top of that, the hierarchy of the graphic, the fact that Jalen Johnson and Nikhila Alexander Walker are on top of the women.
23:35
SPEAKER_00: It's fucking weird.
23:37
SPEAKER_00: Either just don't congratulate them or keep the man out the poster.
23:40
SPEAKER_00: And it's not that serious to post, put Harry the Hawk on the poster or some shit.
23:45
SPEAKER_00: I those men do not need to be next to no word finals until they get there their damn selves.
23:50
SPEAKER_00: It's so stupid.
23:51
SPEAKER_00: Or don't put any people on the graphic.
23:53
SPEAKER_00: Just put congratulations, Atlanta Dream, for making the finals.
23:55
SPEAKER_00: Like, I don't understand that shit is so ugly.
23:58
SPEAKER_00: It's ugly.
23:58
SPEAKER_00: So I didn't like that at all.
24:00
SPEAKER_00: But back to the arena situation, they were able to work it out.
24:04
SPEAKER_00: I saw people asking at the beginning of the show.
24:06
SPEAKER_00: They were able to work the situation out by, and this is why I was complaining in the first place, because I knew that there was a solution where both teams would get to play in State Farm and get to have their little games and things, and Somber would get to sing whatever he sang, and everybody would be happy.
24:20
SPEAKER_00: But and but the dream had to play in State Farm Arena.
24:22
SPEAKER_00: It was State Farm or Bust, it was no other option.
24:24
SPEAKER_00: That is that's the only way I was having it.
24:26
SPEAKER_00: The Somber concert will remain on the same day, which I'm just like, is that like can somebody in the chat explain this to me?
24:34
SPEAKER_00: Doja cat gotta be a bigger artist than Somber, right?
24:37
SPEAKER_00: Like, if Doja can move, he can move, but who cares?
24:39
SPEAKER_00: It got worked out.
24:40
SPEAKER_00: I need to stop complaining.
24:41
SPEAKER_00: The Somber concert will remain the same day, the Dream will play a day prior and stay from arena.
24:47
SPEAKER_00: The Hawks opening night will be pushed to later.
24:50
SPEAKER_00: The dream game will be pushed a couple hours earlier to 1 p.m.
24:53
SPEAKER_00: on that Saturday, so they have time to turn the arena around for the Hawks opening night game that night, which I would love to see because it's cool how arenas like flip and change and people work so hard on that shit.
25:04
SPEAKER_00: But they were able to work it out.
25:06
SPEAKER_00: Both ownerships came together, they put out a joint statement, and I love to see both ownership groups working together, the men's and the women's team working together.
25:13
SPEAKER_00: I would say, I will say it would be nice to see some Hawks players since you want to be in the fucking graphics of it.
25:18
SPEAKER_00: They didn't make a graphic.
25:19
SPEAKER_00: Let me not come for them.
25:20
SPEAKER_00: They didn't make the graphic, it's literally not their fault, but it would be nice to see a couple of them at the finals game supporting the dream.
25:26
SPEAKER_00: I'm just saying.
25:28
SPEAKER_00: If I were one of them, I'd be like, let me get my ass out there.
25:30
SPEAKER_00: Like it looks good for them to be supporting them.
25:32
SPEAKER_00: I mean, we see Tyrese Halburton supporting Kayla Clark.
25:35
SPEAKER_00: We we see this a lot of times in other NBA, WNBA situations.
25:39
SPEAKER_00: I think it would be nice of them to show face at the finals in sport.
25:43
SPEAKER_00: That's all I'm gonna say.
25:44
SPEAKER_00: Moving on, we are going to get into a segment called Extra Credit.
25:49
SPEAKER_00: I'm going to be going through the players and storylines for this year's WNBA finals and explaining who the faces are that you need to know and the stories and blah blah blah blah blah blah.
25:59
SPEAKER_00: So without further ado, let's get into the stars for the Atlanta Dream and the Golden State Valkyries.
26:05
SPEAKER_00: We're going to start with Angel Reese from the Atlanta Dream.
26:09
SPEAKER_00: I don't think enough people are talking about how insane it is.
26:14
SPEAKER_00: Actually, plenty of people are talking about it.
26:16
SPEAKER_00: I'm acting like I invented the fucking wheel.
26:17
SPEAKER_00: Plenty of people are talking about it, but I'm gonna talk about it again, bitch.
26:20
SPEAKER_00: Angel Reese being in the finals so early in her career, in her first season with the Atlanta dream.
26:29
SPEAKER_00: It just shows how when you are in the wrong space with the wrong people, how much it can taint your aura, and how when you get the fuck out of there and get to the right place for you and go where you are wanted, it can really improve your life.
26:46
SPEAKER_00: Angel Reese was watching the WNBA finals last year and tweeted that she was manifesting the finals, and 364 days later, she is actually playing in the WNBA finals.
27:00
SPEAKER_00: This is the first finals appearance for Atlanta since 2013.
27:04
SPEAKER_00: Angel was playing for the Chicago Sky, who drafted her, I believe 11th overall.
27:09
SPEAKER_00: And everyone was so excited.
27:11
SPEAKER_00: Angel and Camilla Cardoso, and what's this new era gonna be?
27:14
SPEAKER_00: And I remember from the day they introduced Angel Reese, and we also saw Caitlin Clark be introduced in Indiana and other players be introduced, not just Caitlin.
27:24
SPEAKER_00: That's that just popped into my head, but they had an incredible draft class, Cameron Brink.
27:29
SPEAKER_00: And I saw all of the other women be welcomed by their new franchises, and they had Angel like walking by herself in a high school gym or something.
27:39
SPEAKER_00: It was just like this is how you welcome the star.
27:43
SPEAKER_00: Sorry, I would like to issue a little bit of a correction.
27:46
SPEAKER_00: Angel was drafted seventh overall.
27:48
SPEAKER_00: I am so sorry, you guys.
27:49
SPEAKER_00: But the way that she was welcomed to Chicago, I was like, This is how you welcome a star like Angel Reese, a most outstanding player in the NCAA tournament.
28:00
SPEAKER_00: Like, this is how you welcome her.
28:01
SPEAKER_00: I just already was getting bad vibes.
28:03
SPEAKER_00: I used to do a podcast with a player that played for the Chicago Sky.
28:06
SPEAKER_00: She talked on our podcast all the time about what a negative experience she had playing for the Chicago Sky and with the way that they were run and everything.
28:14
SPEAKER_00: And they've run away so many stars.
28:17
SPEAKER_00: But to get a golden egg like Angel Reese and fuck that up.
28:21
SPEAKER_00: She gets there, she has Teaspoon as her coach, and obviously had a great relationship with her.
28:25
SPEAKER_00: They fire her.
28:26
SPEAKER_00: Angel was vocal about how upset she was about that.
28:29
SPEAKER_00: Then they just lose and lose and lose and lose.
28:32
SPEAKER_00: Angel's not in the playoffs, she's not playing for anything meaningful.
28:34
SPEAKER_00: And it's hard as a player who's used to winning your whole fucking career, and this goes for any top 10 draft pick, right?
28:40
SPEAKER_00: It's hard to go from winning all of the time to losing all of the time.
28:47
SPEAKER_00: You're coming off of a place where you were winning NCAA titles and you're coming into a place where you can you can barely win regular season games.
28:54
SPEAKER_00: So obviously, Angel's frustrated, she vocalizes this.
28:57
SPEAKER_00: What do they do when she says we need to win?
28:59
SPEAKER_00: She's very vocal about the fact that we're losing.
29:01
SPEAKER_00: This sucks.
29:02
SPEAKER_00: No player should be happy when they're losing.
29:04
SPEAKER_00: And if you look at men's sports, players vocalize all the time when they're unhappy about the fact that they're losing.
29:08
SPEAKER_00: Well, Angel did this in a press conference.
29:11
SPEAKER_00: What did they do?
29:11
SPEAKER_00: They sat her ass down.
29:12
SPEAKER_00: They suspended her for what the first half of a game against the Aces or some shit like that for conduct detrimental to the team because she vocalized the fact that she was unhappy with losing.
29:21
SPEAKER_00: Get fucked.
29:23
SPEAKER_00: So that was when I was like, this relationship is not working out.
29:26
SPEAKER_00: This is between the coach firing and all of that, it was just so it was just bad.
29:32
SPEAKER_00: Angel vocalized that she was open to the idea of leaving Chicago.
29:37
SPEAKER_00: And it's interesting because when you are a top 10 draft pick, obviously you're going to a team that's bad, right?
29:43
SPEAKER_00: You go into a team that's bad.
29:44
SPEAKER_00: Caitlin Clark got extremely lucky going to a team with another number one pick and going to the fever who really care about their team, right?
29:52
SPEAKER_00: It could go one of two ways, right, when you're drafted top 10, because you're going to a team that sucks, right?
29:58
SPEAKER_00: But the Chicago Skies show no forward progression that they wanted to get better or that they really gave a fuck about Angel.
30:05
SPEAKER_00: And I'm sorry when you get a star like that, and anybody who watches sports knows how the stars are treated in sports.
30:13
SPEAKER_00: She needs a little bit of special attention and treatment, which is something that I have heard rumblings behind the scenes that her teammates were getting frustrated with and the team was getting frustrated with.
30:22
SPEAKER_00: Well, they end up trading her to Atlanta for two first-round picks.
30:27
SPEAKER_00: And I hope those picks work out for them.
30:30
SPEAKER_00: And they don't also end up being players that leave, like Gabby Williams, who's playing in the finals with the Golden State Valkyries, and Angel Reese, who's playing in the finals with the Atlanta Dream.
30:39
SPEAKER_00: They trade her for two first-round picks.
30:40
SPEAKER_00: She comes to Atlanta, and immediately when Angel is traded to Atlanta, everybody was saying the same thing.
30:47
SPEAKER_00: Oh my god, it's the perfect fit.
30:48
SPEAKER_00: Oh my god, it's the perfect fit.
30:50
SPEAKER_00: Culturally, it's the perfect fit as far as team is concerned.
30:53
SPEAKER_00: It's a perfect fit as far as personality is on the team, and it's the perfect fit as far as coaching, right?
30:59
SPEAKER_00: Angel gets to Atlanta in her first season with the Atlanta Dream.
31:03
SPEAKER_00: She wins defensive player of the year.
31:04
SPEAKER_00: She leads the league in rebounds.
31:07
SPEAKER_00: And in game three against Liberty, she had 22 points and nine rebounds.
31:11
SPEAKER_00: She doubled her three-point percentage in the postseason because she was willing to listen to her coach who wanted to change her shot, which was uncomfortable at first for her, so that she could knock down threes every once in a while because they when they leave her open, she can punish them every once in a while.
31:27
SPEAKER_00: It's incredible.
31:29
SPEAKER_00: At one point, Angel's coach literally stopped a drill for the whole team.
31:35
SPEAKER_00: This sounds like a like I'm getting flashbacks to like being in high school playing sports.
31:40
SPEAKER_00: They stopped the drill, and the coach made Angel make two threes in a row in front of everybody.
31:48
SPEAKER_00: Mind you, Angel's a big, so this isn't like uh she's not you're not asking Steph Curry to make two threes in a row, right?
31:54
SPEAKER_00: And her team couldn't resume the drill until she made them, and she had to do this in front of everybody.
31:58
SPEAKER_00: And she spoke about being a little bit embarrassed and didn't want to let the team down because she stopped the drill, and he put her in high-pressured situations so that when she got to the postseason, she could double her three-point percentage and shine.
32:10
SPEAKER_00: She has improved her game tremendously and will continue to improve her game.
32:15
SPEAKER_00: And it's incredible what she's been able to do, whether the dream won the finals or not.
32:19
SPEAKER_00: In her first playoffs, it shows what Angel Reese can become when you put her in a winning situation, right?
32:27
SPEAKER_00: Now let's let's talk a little bit about Gabby Williams.
32:30
SPEAKER_00: Gabby Williams was also drafted fourth overall by the Chicago Sky.
32:36
SPEAKER_00: She played college basketball at UConn and spent three years in Chicago before going to Seattle, where things were a little bit better than being in Chicago.
32:44
SPEAKER_00: And now she is the franchise player for Golden State.
32:48
SPEAKER_00: She's one of the best two-way players in the league and had a career year this year with Golden State, was an all-star.
32:55
SPEAKER_00: She made$1.9 million this year, and she also has an on-demand cat sitter with the Golden State Valkyries for her cat Halle Berry.
33:06
SPEAKER_00: Okay, and she's spoken about how now being in Golden State, all she has to focus on is basketball, which is a luxury a lot of WNBA players didn't get before this new CBA.
33:17
SPEAKER_00: She talked about how there wasn't the same investment in Chicago because people didn't believe in the products, but in Golden State, they're investing, they're investing because they understand that the WNBA is something that people want and people are willing to put money into.
33:29
SPEAKER_00: This is what happens when teams actually invest in their players, both emotionally and financially, you guys.
33:33
SPEAKER_00: Look at both Angel and Gabby coming from being drafted to the sky and being in the finals now.
33:38
SPEAKER_00: The difference between the resources women have historically received and what they're receiving now, what Golden State is willing to give to their players, is absolutely incredible, right?
33:52
SPEAKER_00: Now, let's get into some other Atlanta Dream stars.
33:56
SPEAKER_00: Let's talk about Ryan Howard.
33:57
SPEAKER_00: She's one of Atlanta's biggest offensive weapons.
33:59
SPEAKER_00: She had four threes in game three against New York.
34:02
SPEAKER_00: Her shooting is going to be very important for the Atlanta Dream against Golden State's defense.
34:07
SPEAKER_00: Alicia Gray is one of, if not Atlanta's best scorer, their leading scorer.
34:11
SPEAKER_00: Um she had a minor hand procedure right before the finals, and her availability is still uncertain.
34:17
SPEAKER_00: She's such an important part of this team that it will be interesting to see how the dream can play without her, but they have really risen to the occasion without her.
34:30
SPEAKER_00: So I don't know.
34:31
SPEAKER_00: Like I'm interested to see if they do throw her back in.
34:34
SPEAKER_00: Is this going to affect the dream in a negative way?
34:36
SPEAKER_00: But if they don't have her, is that also gonna affect the dream in a negative way?
34:39
SPEAKER_00: Like, what do you do coaching in that scenario?
34:41
SPEAKER_00: Jordan Canada runs Atlanta's offense, and she's responsible for setting the team's scoring opportunities up.
34:47
SPEAKER_00: And if she can knock down a few herself, it's over.
34:51
SPEAKER_00: And then also Kayla Thornton is one of Golden State's key players, and she is a major, major part of their aggressive physical, defensive identity.
35:01
SPEAKER_00: The coaches is also something I want to educate you guys on a little bit.
35:05
SPEAKER_00: So you've got Natalina Casey, she's the coach for Golden State.
35:08
SPEAKER_00: She's a five foot-two former basketball player who walked on at UCLA and eventually became a starter and team captain.
35:15
SPEAKER_00: She played professionally before a knee injury, ended her playing career, and coached overseas in Germany and Japan.
35:22
SPEAKER_00: She spent 10 seasons working with the Los Angeles Clippers, starting as an unpaid video intern, and became the first woman to serve as a head coach in Japan's men's basketball professional league.
35:34
SPEAKER_00: She was an assistant coach under Becky Hammond with the Las Vegas Aces from 2022 to 2024 and won back-to-back WNBA championships with the Aces in 2022 and 2023 and became the first Asian American head coach in WNBA history when she took over Golden Estate.
35:48
SPEAKER_00: She won WNBA Coach of the Year in their first season as a franchise and now has the Valkyrays in the finals in just their second season.
35:56
SPEAKER_00: And the crazy part is she just eliminated her former team and former boss, the Aces, to get here.
36:03
SPEAKER_00: She's known for being extremely intense and detail oriented and building a culture around defense and hard work.
36:09
SPEAKER_00: And I'm actually very interested to see how this coaching battle is going to work.
36:14
SPEAKER_00: I've you guys tell, let me know in the chat because I don't have this in my notes.
36:17
SPEAKER_00: But if I remember correctly, that was Natalie Nikase that passed out.
36:20
SPEAKER_00: That was her, yeah, that was her.
36:21
SPEAKER_00: I remember this game.
36:22
SPEAKER_00: She literally passed out during a game.
36:26
SPEAKER_00: Well, coaching a game and kept coaching.
36:33
SPEAKER_00: But people pass out and go to the hospital.
36:36
SPEAKER_00: If that if that tells you how intense this women woman is.
36:39
SPEAKER_00: Now we'll talk about Atlanta's head coach, Carl Snesko.
36:44
SPEAKER_00: Okay, he's a very interesting one.
36:47
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I like the video where he's announcing that Angel won Defensive Player of the Year and her mom, like, like, or no, he was announcing that Angel and Ryan were gonna play with Team USA and FIBA, and it just seems like they really rally around him.
37:00
SPEAKER_00: He became Atlanta's head coach in 2025 after more than 20 years of coaching at Florida Gulf Coast University.
37:07
SPEAKER_00: He's known for his offense being very three-point heavy.
37:11
SPEAKER_00: At FGCU, his team's consistently ranked among the best in college basketball at shooting threes.
37:17
SPEAKER_00: When Atlanta acquired Angel Reese, he told her he wanted her to develop a three-point shot.
37:22
SPEAKER_00: This was something that had never been asked of Angel before.
37:25
SPEAKER_00: There were definitely some growing pains because Angel wasn't comfortable shooting from outside.
37:29
SPEAKER_00: And as I told you guys earlier in the show, at one practice, he literally stopped a drill to make Angel make two threes in a row in front of the entire team, kind of embarrassing her in front of everybody and frustrating her.
37:40
SPEAKER_00: But eventually she made both shots.
37:41
SPEAKER_00: I'd imagine Angel was like calling her mom after, yeah.
37:44
SPEAKER_00: I mean, you guys know.
37:45
SPEAKER_00: After after practice, she's like calling her mom, probably cussing.
37:48
SPEAKER_00: I fucking hate him, you know, but it worked out, right?
37:51
SPEAKER_00: And Angel shot just 19% from the three during the regular season.
37:56
SPEAKER_00: She is shooting around 39% from three in the playoffs.
38:01
SPEAKER_00: It's a small sample size, but it is double what she was doing in the regular season.
38:07
SPEAKER_00: Angel says her confidence shooting from outside the arc is now through the roof.
38:12
SPEAKER_00: He's also played, helped players like Jordan Canada and Nas Hillman become more comfortable shooting from outside.
38:18
SPEAKER_00: And Atlanta's three-point shooting has become a huge part of their playoff run.
38:24
SPEAKER_00: Now, I want to talk about the business of the Golden State Valkyries because what they've been able to do in their second year as a franchise is insane.
38:32
SPEAKER_00: And I want this to be a blueprint for you guys of what women's sports deserve.
38:38
SPEAKER_00: Okay, because I think that there's a common misconception.
38:41
SPEAKER_00: And look, if you're a hater man in the comments, like get fucked, but I think that there is a common misconception that women's sports don't deserve to be invested in, or people don't care about women's sports, or it's you know, the NBA is just giving them all this money and they're losing it and blah blah blah blah.
39:01
SPEAKER_00: And I want to tell you about the Golden State Valkyrie to show women who want to work in sports and women who love sports and people who love the WNBA that there is so much hope, and women's sports is so worthy of being invested in.
39:14
SPEAKER_00: Now, this is honestly one of the most interesting parts of the entire story of the WNBA finals to me because Golden State has basically created a blueprint for what investing in women's sports truly looks like, as they are the first ever$1 billion WNBA team.
39:30
SPEAKER_00: They're the fastest expansion team to ever reach the finals.
39:34
SPEAKER_00: To put this in perspective for you, and the NBA, the fastest team, expansion team to reach the NBA finals are the Milwaukee Bucks.
39:40
SPEAKER_00: They did it in about three years, and this was back in 1971.
39:45
SPEAKER_00: So this isn't something that just happens, okay?
39:48
SPEAKER_00: They made the playoffs in their very first season and the finals in their second season.
39:53
SPEAKER_00: They sold out every single home game in Chase Center that has a capacity of over 18,000 people.
40:01
SPEAKER_00: They are playing in front of over 18,000 people every night as a brand new WNBA team.
40:11
SPEAKER_00: This is everyone watches women's sports in action, okay?
40:16
SPEAKER_00: They had to cut off season ticket sales because they have around 12,000 season ticket holders and they do little smart things.
40:24
SPEAKER_00: Like the original season ticket holders from last season when they first became a team, all got this special varsity jacket, and they need to order more because like there were so many that were sold, but they get this special varsity jacket that nobody can get unless they invested in the original team as a season ticket holder.
40:40
SPEAKER_00: They play at St.
40:41
SPEAKER_00: Chase Center where the Golden State Warriors also play, and they created, I love this part, they created a network of bars around the Bay Area, 35 plus bars, where Golden State Valkyrie's fans can gather and watch the game in the area, which invests in fans that are not only able to attend in arena, but fans that will push the culture forward outside of the arena.
41:07
SPEAKER_00: It's so smart to use bars.
41:08
SPEAKER_00: Let's talk about where the money resides, where the money resides, because the interesting thing is they pushed they pulled in 78 million dollars in revenue in their first WNBA season.
41:21
SPEAKER_00: And in their second season, they pulled in over a hundred million dollars in revenue.
41:28
SPEAKER_00: So why are they the first billion dollar WNBA team?
41:32
SPEAKER_00: You think about teams that you would expect this to be the Fever, the Aces, the Liberty.
41:36
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
41:37
SPEAKER_00: The Liberty are the second team to them in revenue, and they like nearly doubled the Liberty.
41:41
SPEAKER_00: How are they doing this?
41:42
SPEAKER_00: Well, they've got 40 plus major brand partners, including Sephora.
41:47
SPEAKER_00: Sephora sponsored their practice facility.
41:50
SPEAKER_00: They play in the Sephora like Practice Center.
41:52
SPEAKER_00: And the interesting thing about that is they play in the Golden State Warriors, I believe, old practice facility in Oakland.
41:59
SPEAKER_00: They they're owned by the same owners as the Golden State Warriors.
42:02
SPEAKER_00: Joe Lacob, one of the owners, is he was also one of the largest investors in the ABL, which was a women's basketball league they tried to start back in 1996, and it eventually folded in 1998.
42:13
SPEAKER_00: And he said, like, we failed that time, but he was willing to invest in women's basketball back in 1996.
42:19
SPEAKER_00: So he does care about the vision and has been investing in women's basketball for decades.
42:24
SPEAKER_00: So they benefit from the Warriors' existing NBA infrastructure.
42:28
SPEAKER_00: They treat them like an NBA team, but they have their own staff and everything.
42:32
SPEAKER_00: They benefit from the Warriors' existing NBA infrastructure, and so they built this team around like an NBA ethos of sorts where they take them very seriously.
42:42
SPEAKER_00: They're not treating them like a second-rate team, they treat them just like they treat the Warriors, but with their own staff and their own independent brand, with 70 plus people working for them in the business side.
42:53
SPEAKER_00: So, and these aren't people who also work for the Warriors, so they're not just like their second, you know, second rate.
42:58
SPEAKER_00: I will say it's so interesting, right, the way that they treat their players because they have this Sephora practice facility.
43:05
SPEAKER_00: Some WNBA teams, you guys, don't even have practice facilities.
43:09
SPEAKER_00: And they practice in in rec gyms in the public next to other people working out.
43:15
SPEAKER_00: They have an on-demand cat sitter, as I mentioned previously, for Gabby Williams, their star, and her cat, Halle Berry.
43:21
SPEAKER_00: Their coach, Natalie Nikase, obviously um was named WMBA Coach of the Year, but they give her this reign to create this culture that is so incredible.
43:31
SPEAKER_00: And they make sure that their players are visible all around the city and have these brand partnerships and are bringing in this cash so that they can focus solely on basketball, which is incredible.
43:43
SPEAKER_00: And the Valkyries are proof that people will show up if you give them something worth showing up for and you invest in building fan bases.
43:53
SPEAKER_00: Like they I watched a video about how they were doing research into their male fan base and assumed that it was gonna be a bunch of girl dads, but.
44:00
SPEAKER_00: was actually men in their 20s and they actually were higher spenders on merch than their female fans.
44:07
SPEAKER_00: And so building their merch to be more, you know, cool for a guy in his 20s to buy because they're spending money.
44:14
SPEAKER_00: Like they're doing all this research and putting in all of this effort.
44:17
SPEAKER_00: And I saw Joe Lacob said he started over 70 businesses, most of them being tech businesses, and the Golden State Valkyries were by far one of the best that he had started.
44:26
SPEAKER_00: So I think that that's incredible.
44:28
SPEAKER_00: But you guys, that's it for the show.
44:33
SPEAKER_00: But that's not it for the episode because we are going to get into my finals predictions.
44:37
SPEAKER_00: I hate making predictions.
44:39
SPEAKER_00: There is nothing I hate more than making predictions because how the fuck am I supposed to know?
44:45
SPEAKER_00: That's my thing with sports.
44:46
SPEAKER_00: How the fuck am I supposed to know what if somebody gets hurt?
44:48
SPEAKER_00: You know?
44:48
SPEAKER_00: But I'll give them to you anyways.
44:50
SPEAKER_00: Now before we get into my predictions, something she should know Golden State are the higher seed.
44:56
SPEAKER_00: They have home court advantage.
44:58
SPEAKER_00: They beat Atlanta three times during the regular season.
45:01
SPEAKER_00: They have an aggressive defense and a lot of momentum after sweeping the defending champion aces.
45:07
SPEAKER_00: This series will be a defensive master class.
45:11
SPEAKER_00: My thing I'm guessing and you know I'm not an analyst I'm just a little kind of a reporter or whatever.
45:17
SPEAKER_00: Call me what the fuck you want to call me.
45:19
SPEAKER_00: My prediction is this series isn't going to come down to who plays better defense.
45:22
SPEAKER_00: But both of these teams play incredible defense going to come down to who can knock down shots when they need to.
45:52
SPEAKER_00: I think that the Golden State Valkyries will win game one.
45:55
SPEAKER_00: I think that in Balhalla which is what they call Chase Center when they play with their 18000 fans present and their 12000 season ticket holders and their big fan base and how loud they are they definitely have a home court advantage.
46:10
SPEAKER_00: Which by the way here I go I never shut up this is why I'm so bad with an outline I think the Valkyries will win game one but I do want to say this a lot of people when I was complaining about the Atlanta dream and the arena controversy were telling me well maybe they should play at Georgia Tech.
46:24
SPEAKER_00: Maybe they should play at Gas South maybe they should play at all these other arenas and I don't think people understand what a big deal home court advantage is in the finals.
46:30
SPEAKER_00: You can't just pluck the dream from obscurity and throw them in any random arena that they haven't been in those locker rooms and they haven't practiced there and warmed up there and gotten used to the routine of even driving there and the fans are used to coming to I mean I typically take the Marta to the dream games and State Roman arena and you can get off the the the Marta station at the train and you're right there at the arena.
46:51
SPEAKER_00: Like it's so convenient for fans to get to you can't just pluck them out home court advantage they need to play somewhere they've played before and I think that the group that the Valories are going to have that in game one and I think they're going to win.
47:02
SPEAKER_00: Who's going to win the series?
47:03
SPEAKER_00: I am going to say the Atlanta Dream are going to win the WMBA finals.
47:11
SPEAKER_00: Angel Reese is going to hoist the trophy the Atlanta Dream are going to win the WNBA finals in seven games I would like for it to be six so that it's here in Atlanta I would say six to six but I think it's gonna be close and I don't think it's going to be easy but I think the Atlanta Dream have more offensive weapons than the Golden State Valkyries and while the Golden State Valkyries have played better offensively in the playoffs then they're known for playing I just think that Natalie Nase while an incredible coach who I believe in was so familiar with the aces and there's so much uncertainty with the dream that if they take care of business if Angel knocks down shots when she's open and Jordan Canada is able to put up some points and Ryan is consistent with her three-point shooting throughout the series the Atlanta Dream will win because they have both defense and offense.
48:11
SPEAKER_00: So I have the Atlanta dream in seven my finals MVP it's hard because Atlanta has so much talent I think that if Angel puts up point puts up performances like her 22 and 9 performance against the New York Liberty she would be able to win finals MVP but I think if Alicia Gray is playing as the leading scorer she would win finals MVP and Jordan Canada really runs the whole offense so she also is a shoe in for finals MVP but I would have the three of them and then obviously if the Valkyries win it's going to be Gabby.
48:48
SPEAKER_00: And who's the X factor?
48:49
SPEAKER_00: I think the X factor for the Atlanta dream is going to be Jordan Canada.
48:55
SPEAKER_00: Obviously I think that if she obviously she runs the offense etc etc but if she's able to knock down some shots she's the X factor for sure or Angel because rebounding is going to be so important like getting us other opportunities if we are missing to make shots especially with such a good defensive team and what would a championship mean for either team I think for the Valkyries it would mean that every fucking team in the WNBA is going to have to step their game up that this team came into the league.
49:22
SPEAKER_00: And while they did come into a perfect situation right being in a perfect WNBA market I'm not saying exactly what they did could be replicated but it is going to make teams like the Chicago Sky who seemingly don't give that much of a fuck about their WNBA team look bad and everybody's gonna have to step their back up to because every time a team wins a championship they become the blueprint for the future right everybody is chasing that and it will definitely step up the level for teams and I honestly think that could be a really great thing for the WNBA so I wouldn't be that mad but the dream winning a championship would mean we have to have some really uncomfortable conversations that I'm not going to get into right now because I'm not in the mood.
50:00
SPEAKER_00: Now my final thought is no matter what happens we're getting a first time WNBA champion which I think is absolutely incredible.
50:08
SPEAKER_00: Golden State is showing what a new franchise can do when they are making the right investment into their players and Atlanta finally has a chance to win a championship after years of coming up short.
50:17
SPEAKER_00: Either way this is a really interesting and beautiful moment for women's basketball and I can't wait to tune in this Saturday.
50:25
SPEAKER_00: Thank you guys so much for watching another episode of Hoops for Hoddies.
50:29
SPEAKER_00: I'm your host Mariah Rose and if you love me or care about my mental being at all you will subscribe to Hoops for Hoddies on YouTube.
50:37
SPEAKER_00: We just hit 17000 subscribers which I'm very very proud of and if you're listening to this on audio please make sure to follow the podcast on Spotify or Apple Podcasts wherever you're watching and leave us a comment please leave us a comment or review.
50:51
SPEAKER_00: I read them all I want to make the show better.
50:53
SPEAKER_00: So whether it's positive or negative I would like to see your thoughts on what you think about the show and what you want me to talk about next.
50:59
SPEAKER_00: I want to be very one with my community and follow who Sverhadis on social media Instagram and TikTok to see when I'm going to be live next I love you.
51:08
SPEAKER_00: I mean it and I'll see you next Thursday.
51:10
SPEAKER_00: Bye