The Dallas Wings are going to appear in the WNBA Playoffs for the first time since 2023 and they will be facing the Golden State Valkyries in a best-of-three First Round series. Game 1 is on Sun, Sept 27 at the Chase Center in San Francisco, where the “Valks” have a strong home court advantage in their second season of existence. Making the playoffs in both of their first two years in the league, Golden State will seek to accomplish a run to the WNBA Finals. But they need to go through Paige Bueckers, Jessica Shepard and a strong Wings team in the first round.
The Valkyries won all three matchups against Dallas in the 2026 regular season, with them winning a Commissioner’s Cup game in San Francisco on Jun 17 by a final score of 91-80, a game at American Airlines Center on Aug 7 by a blowout margin of 94-76 and a close 78-70 victory at the Chase Center on Aug 17. With star players such as Gabby Williams, Veronica Burton, and Janelle Salaun, Golden State is a force to be reckoned with under head coach Natalie Nakase. But the Wings have Bueckers(an MVP candidate in her second season) Shepard(a triple-double machine), Arike Ogunbowale(averaging 15 points per game), Awak Kuier(a very strong rebounder and defender) and Maddy Siegrist(a solid bench player getting more playing time on the back end of the season) as a potential potent starting five.
Dallas will have to win at least one game in San Francisco while defending their home court in Game 2 of the series on Wed, Sept 30. If the series is tied after two games, then the deciding third game will be on Fri, Oct 2 at Chase Center. The Wings are without Azzi Fudd, who suffered a season-ending knee injury on Aug 5 and her contributions to the team were valuable in her rookie season. But a combination of players have picked up the slack in her absence and with veterans on the squad, Dallas could potentially pull off a shocking upset against one of the best teams in the league this season. Whoever advances in this series will face the winner of a first round series between the Indiana Fever and the defending-champion Las Vegas Aces.
In their first year under head coach José Fernandez, the Wings improved their win total to 27 wins and with a strong finish to the regular season in winning seven of their last eight games, they are coming into the playoffs hot. Whether they win a series or two or not will be decided in time, but Dallas will certainly be a contending team for plenty of years to come in the WNBA.
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