We like being surprised, so today on Sunday Surmising, we’re going to acknowledge we were wrong about the Golden State Valkyries. Riding a three-game win streak now, the team is 5-5 and currently occupying the No. 6 playoff spot. Yes, we know there are 34 more games to play in the 2025 WNBA season, but we didn’t think this team would win more than 10 games this season. Yet here they are, doing fairly well, yo.

This three-game win streak began at home on June 7 with a huge upset win over A’ja Wilson and the Las Vegas Aces, and we were there in person—and pretty much in shock. The Aces were big favorites—well more than double digits—and yet it was the Valkyries who walked away with a 95-68 victory. Admittedly, we felt like the officials were really not calling a lot of fouls for the home team in Ballhalla, but whatever.

A win is a win, and that was an effing win.

The Valkyries proceeded to go to Los Angeles last Monday and drop the Sparks in overtime, avenging an Opening Night loss at home back on May 16. Then Golden State returned home to the Chase Center—a.k.a. Ballhalla—yesterday to beat the Seattle Storm. Suddenly, this team of castoffs and misfits is right in the middle of the postseason chase, ahead of teams like the overhyped Indiana Fever and the Aces, as well.

Las Vegas won the WNBA titles in 2022 and 2023 with Wilson leading the way, and the Valkyries beat them by 27 points. Now, we know rosters change, and Golden State is changing its roster seemingly every game—for a variety of reasons. Between injuries, ineffectiveness, and European basketball commitments to national teams, we never know sometimes who will be suiting up for the Valkyries. What a coaching job!

Head Coach Natalie Nakase deserves a lot of credit, after spending the last three years with the Aces as a top assistant. The one constant on the team so far has been four-year veteran guard Veronica Burton (.192 WS/40). Other players have been in and out of the rotation due to the above circumstances, but she leads the team in value-added play while also seeing time in all games played this season so far. Revelation!

After averaging about 13.5 minutes per game in the prior three seasons with Dallas (2022-2023) and Connecticut (2024), Burton has played more than 29 minutes per contest so far this season with the Valkyries. Her shooting efficiency is not good, but she’s scoring 11.9 points per game while notching 5.4 assists, 4.1 rebounds, and 1.8 steals as well. Plus, she’s only giving it up 2.2 times a game. That’s huge.

Her aggressiveness also is paying off at the free-throw line, where she’s shooting 90.9 percent on 5.5 attempts per game. That’s why she’s scoring 11.9 ppg while averaging fewer than nine attempts from the floor. Burton has gotten solid support from age-32 center Temi Fagbenle, the only other player to feature in all 10 games this season so far while also posting above .100 WS/40 (.163) on the sabermetric stat sheet.

Fagbenle is off now to Europe for a bit, as are at least three other teammates (forward Cecilia Zandalasini, F Janelle Salaün, and G Julie Vanloo). Younger players will have to step up now to keep this team in contention across the summer schedule with so much talent back in Europe. It seems to be a bit weird for players to leave their “jobs” to play somewhere else, but such are the socioeconomics of the WNBA today.

Zandalasini (.168 WS/40 in four games) is the big loss here, as she has been very effective when healthy and playing. Vanloo is pretty worthless, outside her experience at age 32, as she literally provides negative value when on the floor (-0.059). Besides Burton and Fagbenle, the only other two players to see the floor in every game are age-32 F Kayla Thornton (.097) and age-21 G Carla Leite (.039). Both will have to step up, hugely.

And for all this success, the Valkyries still find themselves as road dogs to the league-worst Dallas Wings on Tuesday night before returning to Ballhalla on Thursday night to host the Fever and then the Sun on Sunday. It should be an interesting week for Golden State considering all these scenarios. Here’s to hoping the team can continue their winning steak, although if the Valkyries win two of three, it will be awesome.