There won’t be another Valkyries game until Sept. 18, an oddity in the WNBA schedule thanks to a nearly three-week break as the entire league goes on pause for the FIBA Women’s World Cup tournament in Berlin, Germany.
Instead of blocks, steals and three-point daggers, Ballhalla hosted the Pokemon world championship this weekend, and the ’90s band Weezer will perform there in early September.
The Women’s World Cup, the biggest international women’s basketball tournament this year, will run from Sept. 4 to 13, with the winner getting a berth in the 2028 Olympics.
There are 16 teams participating in four groups:
Group A: Spain, Germany, Mali, Japan
Group B: Korea, Nigeria, Hungary, France
Group C: Australia, Puerto Rico, Belgium, Turkey
Group D: USA, China, Czechia, Italy
Who is going?
Along with Head coach Natalie Nakase, who will be on the coaching staff for Team USA, there are four international Valkyries players heading overseas: Gabby Williams and Janelle Salaün (France), Cecilia Zandalasini (Italy) and Miela Sowah (Australia).
These are some of the team’s most utilized players as well as future prospects.
Williams became the Valkyries’ first-ever all-star starter this season, averaging a team-high 14.4 points per game and is a candidate for the WNBA’s defensive player of the year award.
She is part of the formidable French team along with Salaün, who made WNBA history as the highest-scoring reserve for total points in a season, eclipsing the previous record of 457 points.
Sowah, who is on a developmental contract with the Valkyries and scored her first WNBA points on Sunday night in their win against the Portland Fire, will join Australia to replace the injured Sami Whitcomb.
In addition, Valkyries third round pick Kokoro Tanaka, who hasn’t signed with the team yet, will play for Japan. Tanaka became the second Japanese player ever drafted in the WNBA, and first since Mikiko Hagiwara in 1997. She is spending this season overseas with the Eneos Sunflowers in the Women’s Japan Basketball League but the Valkyries have rights to her.
What does the tournament mean?
The World Cup champion earns a spot in the 2028 Olympics, while the second and third-place finishers have to settle for medals. That is, unless Team USA finishes first. The U.S. team is guaranteed to qualify for the Olympics since they are being held in Los Angeles. If the U.S. wins, the silver medal team would clinch a place in the Olympics too.
What are the other Valkyries players doing?
Kiah Stokes, for one, is going to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.
“I love a good beach,” she said. “I’m just gonna take some time away, and then we have some time to work while, I guess, some of our players are still playing, but we’ll have time for the rest of our team to get in the gym, get some reps in, and get ready for the playoffs.”
Practices will begin again on Sept. 8, although the players who go all the way to the World Cup finals might not be back until a few days after the tournament ends at the end of that week.
With such a tight turnaround, it wouldn’t be surprising if some players take that first game off, especially since the Valkyries have already clinched the postseason.
“They deserve a break because, I mean, we just had three (games) in six (days)” Nakase said. “Now we’re on three games in four days, so they deserve a break, and we want them to reset, clear their minds, get reset for their bodies, and then they’ll come back, and we’ll do like a mini training camp, which our coaches are very excited to do.”
What happens after the break?
The Valkyries have just four games left in the regular season: Back-to-back home games against Portland and Seattle on Sept. 18 and 19, respectively, and then a final two-game road trip back to Portland on Sept. 22 and down to Los Angeles on Sept. 24.
After that, it’s the playoffs, and the Valkyries are more than likely to host Game 1 of their series. If they stay in second place in the WNBA standings, they will play the seventh seed. Right now, that is Washington, who the Valkyries are 2-1 against this season.
Where and when to watch
Nakase’s loaded USA roster will face Zandalasini and Italy on Sept. 6. None of the other Valkyries players face off in the first round.
“It’s gonna be tough, but everybody’s gonna do our best,” Zandalasini said about playing Team USA. “But that’s what we do, and I’m really excited to represent Italy. So that’s the most important thing for me.”
That game will begin at 11:45 a.m. on TNT and HBO Max.
Salaün and Williams play for France on Sept. 4. They face Hungary at noon Pacific time, and the game can be watched live on truTV and HBO Max.
All three of Australia’s group play games are at 2:30 a.m. Pacific, but folks who want to watch Sowah will get their first chance on Sept. 4 when they face Puerto Rico on HBO Max. Japan faces Mali at the same time, also on HBO Max.
Quarterfinal qualifiers will be Sept. 8 and 9, with quarterfinals on Sept. 10, semi-finals on Sept. 12 at 7:30 a.m. and 11 a.m., and the championship on Sept. 13 at 11 a.m.
