Golden State Valkyries schedule: Sabrina Ionescu, A’ja Wilson, Caitlin Clark headline five games to watch

SAN FRANCISCO – The Golden State Valkyries will have an immediate opportunity to grab California bragging rights during their first WNBA season. 

The WNBA’s first expansion team since 2008 will open the season on May 16 at the Chase Center in San Francisco against the Los Angeles Sparks, who feature former Stanford star Cameron Brink.

The WNBA announced every team’s full 44-game regular-season schedule on Monday.

The Bay Area expansion team still has plenty of work to do before tip-off.  

The Valkyries will begin to build their roster on Friday, when the WNBA expansion draft is held. They will select unprotected players from the league’s other 12 rosters. 

After that, the team will be allowed to negotiate with free agents starting on Jan. 21 and sign contracts on Feb. 1. 

The newly formed roster will then take on stars such as Las Vegas’ A’ja Wilson, New York’s Sabrina Ionescu, Indiana’s Caitlin Clark and others. 

All of them are scheduled to visit the Bay Area this season.

With that in mind, here are five home games that Valkyries fans should circle on the calendar:

May 16 vs. Los Angeles Sparks

Expect lots of festivities before the team plays its first regular-season game in franchise history. After all the expected pomp and circumstance, the Valkyries will face two of the league’s rising stars in the season opener. Cameron Brink should be back on the court after a knee injury prematurely ended her rookie season, and Rickea Jackson is one of the league’s most exciting young scorers.

June 7 vs. Las Vegas Aces

The Western Conference’s super team will march into Chase Center in early June and leading the way should be the league’s best player in reigning MVP and scoring champion A’ja Wilson. She’s coming off a year in which she put up 26.9 points per game. Valkryies fans will also get to see Kelsey Plum, Jackie Young and Chelsea Gray in what will amount to a reunion for the Bay Area team’s new coach, Natalie Nakase, who was an assistant on the Las Vegas staff last season.

June 19 vs. Indiana Fever

The Caitlin Clark show makes its way to the Bay Area a month into the season. Clark proved that her otherworldly numbers and shot-making at Iowa were no fluke in her rookie WNBA season. The No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 draft and Rookie of the Year scored 19.2 points per game and averaged a league-best 8.4 assists per contest as she helped lead the Fever to the playoffs. Aliyah Boston was the top pick in the 2023 draft, and she was a perfect complement to Clark on the inside, averaging 14 points and 8.9 rebounds per game.

June 25 vs. New York Liberty

Walnut Creek native, Olympic gold medalist and reigning NBA champion Sabrina Ionescu makes her return to the Bay Area. Before becoming an all-WNBA performer in New York and a collegiate superstar at Oregon, Ionescu was the Bay Area News Group’s high school girls basketball player of the decade after dominating at Miramonte. Scoring machine Breanna Stewart will also be a big part of the Liberty’s game plan in San Francisco. New York will play host to the Valkyries in back-to-back games in late May. 

July 25 vs. Dallas Wings

The reason to watch this game is not yet on the Dallas roster. The Wings were granted the top pick in the 2025 WNBA draft, a pick that will all but certainly be used on UConn phenom Paige Bueckers. The point guard returned to Storrs for a fifth season and is expected to be an instant WNBA superstar when the Wings make her the top selection in the draft.