The 2025 season is winding down with only four teams left fighting for the ultimate prize. With regard to the rest of the nine teams, it’s time to examine and address the deficits of the 2025 season. For the Golden State Valkyries, however, the 2025 season is a benchmark they will strive to break in the coming seasons. Veteran guard Tiffany Hayes was happy with the season and had nothing but positives for her team.
The Valkyries saw two season-ending winners – HC Natalie Nakase winning the Coach of the Year award, while Veronica Burton won the Most Improved Player of the Year award. But the former Aces’ star focuses on the overall performance and achievements of the team while analyzing the season.
Tiffany Hayes Lauds Golden State Valkyries’ Achievements
The Golden State Valkyries’ entry to the WNBA was much unusual for the WNBA. First, the team selected multiple foreign players and role players to build the roster. Then the Bay Area fans packed the Chase Center arenas in every game. Their first win was against the former champions, the Washington Mystics, and they finished the season with most wins by an expansion team.
While not much was known about the new team, Tyffany Hayes just followed her former assistant coach, Natalie Nakase, and is thrilled with her decision. “I’m so glad I [came]. This place definitely feels like a second home to me, and I hope it’s like that for years to come,” Hayes told Sports Illustrated in an exclusive interview. Reasons for the feeling were obvious – love from the fans, support from the teammates and a historic season exceeding all the expectation.
“When you know, you know about a team. But I would have never ever… we exceeded all the expectations, even, almost in my head. Just seeing where we started in training camp, how fast we jelled, how fast we picked up things, I’m like, ‘Yeah, this is gonna be a better season than all of us imagined, and I just hope everybody feels like that.’ And we all did,” Hayes said.
The Golden State Valkyries weren’t supposed to be here.
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) September 20, 2025
An expansion team in their very first year, most expected growing pains, not greatness, but instead, they turned their debut season into a storybook run that rewrote history.
🔹 First expansion team to make playoffs
🔹… pic.twitter.com/4Dp2DzHzXX
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The side became the first expansion team to reach the playoffs, and had their star forward in the All-Star Game. Incidentally, the 35-year-old guard came back from retirement in 2024. She won the Sixth Player of the Year award, and in 2025, she joined the expansion team with a culture that she does not want to leave.
Tiffany Hayes Ready To Commit To The Golden State Valkyries Again
At the Valkyries, the experienced guard was the highest-paid player with an annual salary of $200,000. Now, at the end of the 2025 season, the former UConn star is an unrestricted free agent again, allowing her to join any team without the Valkyries’ interception. But her heart is set on the San Francisco franchise, and she might give them first priority for the next season.
“I just think staying locked in and knowing that this is a really special place for us and that we can really do some amazing things, and always have that in the back of your head. I think that’s something that will drive us next year for sure,” Hayes said in the interview.
Hayes surpassed Sheryl Swoopes in the WNBA’s All-Time scoring list while playing for the Valkyries, and is now looking to make more history with the Bay Area team.