Updated 2025 WNBA Playoff Bracket, Standings After Valkyries Clinch Playoff Spot

In their inaugural season, the Golden State Valkyries will also be making their maiden voyage to the WNBA playoffs.

Golden State secured a postseason berth with its win over the Dallas Wings on Thursday. The team currently sits sixth in the standings and is headed toward a first-round matchup with the Atlanta Dream.

2025 WNBA Playoff Standings

1. Minnesota Lynx, 32-8

2. Las Vegas Aces, 27-14 (5 GB)

3. Atlanta Dream, 27-14, (5 GB)

4. Phoenix Mercury, 27-14 (5 GB)

5. New York Liberty, 24-17 (8 GB)

6. Golden State Valkyries, 23-18 (9 GB)

7. Seattle Storm, 22-20 (10.5 GB)

8. Indiana Fever, 21-20 (11 GB)

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9. Los Angeles Sparks, 19-21 (12.5 GB)

Even if the Valkyries are swept aside in the opening round, this year will considered a resounding success in the Bay Area.

Pretty much every single WNBA preseason power rankings piece had Golden State sitting near the bottom of the league.

The Valkyries were granted the No. 5 overall pick, which meant missing out on the best prospects in the 2025 WNBA draft class. General manager Ohemaa Nyanin then opted for Lithuanian forward Justė Jocytė, who won't make her full arrival until 2026.

The expansion draft didn't yield any major stars, either, while a pursuit of four-time All-Star Kelsey Plum failed to pan out.

Head coach Natalie Nakase has nonetheless turned a mix of experience and international flair into a playoff qualifer.

Kayla Thornton earned her first All-Star nod thanks to an expanded role from the one she had on the 2024 WNBA champion New York Liberty. Veronica Burton blossomed after three nondescript years to start her WNBA career. French internationals Janelle Salaün and Carla Leite have made positive contributions as rookies. Kate Martin is another success story from the expansion draft.

A sign of how quickly the Valkyries gained a level of respect across the WNBA is that they already had their first executive poached from the front office. The Portland Fire hired Vanja Černivec as their first general manager, citing in part the work she did to assemble Golden State's roster from scratch.

Nobody has any illusions about the Valkyries' postseason ceiling. Thornton suffered a season-ending knee injury in July, and the lack of a standout star will become more glaring in a playoff series.

Before the franchise ever played a game, team governor Joe Lacob set a rough timeline of five years for the Valkyries to be a championship winner. At the time, that looked overly ambitious. Now, it's not quite so outlandish.