What’s next for Valkyries this season?

The WNBA has been on pause, and Ballhalla’s been quiet during the FIBA Women’s World Cup in Berlin.

Four players have been overseas competing, as well as head coach Natalie Nakase, who was an assistant coach for the powerhouse USA squad that just won gold on Sunday.

But at the Sephora Performance Center in Oakland, the rest of the Golden State Valkyries reported back to practice last week after a brief vacation. 

“We miss her,” center Kiah Stokes said of the absent Nakase. “But she’s still texting us. We’re excited for her to come back, but they’re filming everything, so I’m sure she’ll have some notes for us.”

Golden State won’t be back on the court at Chase Center until Friday night, when the team hosts back-to-back home games. Then they head on the road for two more games before the postseason. 

Games left in the regular season

The Valkyries have already clinched the playoffs and are in second place, two games behind the top Minnesota Lynx. 

They still have a chance to land in the No. 1 spot before the season ends, though it will be difficult, because Minnesota owns the head-to-head tiebreaker. Golden State would have to sweep its four remaining games. Minnesota would have to lose three of its last four.

The Valkyries’ last four regular season games are against squads at the bottom of the standings that won’t be in the postseason.

They come back against the expansion Portland Fire on Sept. 18 before facing the last-place Seattle Storm the next day. Then, after a few days off, they’ll fly to Portland, Oregon, to face the Fire again on Sept. 22 before closing out against the 15-25 Los Angeles Sparks on Sept. 24.

Minnesota has a far more difficult schedule with a game against New York and two against Indiana, both teams that will be in the playoffs. They also play Connecticut, which is at the bottom of the standings.

Apart from vying for position in the standings and home court advantage through the postseason, the Valkyries plan to use this week of practice and their last four games to prepare for the playoffs. 

“When we came back to practice, we talked about we’re building for playoffs now,” said guard Kaila Charles. “We took the break, so now we’re going to ramp up. Now we have to build that intensity every single day.”

“We have to be intentional with everything,” said guard Tiffany Hayes. “We know there is a lot at stake coming up. We’re a new team, we haven’t been here before, we got knocked out early last year, so we want to be consistent with how we’re getting ready.”

Who might lock up some awards?

Janelle Salaun is a lock to win the league’s Sixth Player Award as the best bench player. She leads all bench players with 12.9 points per game this season. Most of her competition for this award comes from her teammates — players like Tiffany Hayes and Kaitlyn Chen have been in the conversation.  

Gabby Williams has a shot at the league’s defensive player of the year award, and is expected to be on the WNBA’s All Defensive team. Kiah Stokes and Veronica Burton will also be considered for the league’s All Defensive team

Competition for the Most improved award is tight this year but Kaitlyn Chen, thougha long shot,  may get some votes.

What to expect when the playoffs begin

The WNBA announced their playoff schedule earlier this week, and Game 1 of the playoffs will be Sept. 27. Regardless of whether they catch the Lynx or not, the Valkyries will host a game that day before heading on the road against whoever they match up with.

It looks like it will be either Dallas, New York or Washington, which are all tied near the bottom of the playoff standings at 24-16. Golden State is 8-1 against those teams this season with just a July 20 home loss to the Mystics.

“Everyone would like to say they’re not looking at potential matchups, but you just worry about what you can do,” Stokes said. “So our goal for the next four games is just win when we need to win, stay focused, play hard, and then you know we just wait until soon we play.”

Game 2 of the best-of-three first round would be on Sept. 29 or 30, and a potential Game 3 would be back at home. The second round jumps to a best-of-five series and the WNBA Finals can go seven games.

The Valkyries will host the first two games of the second round as long as they finish in first or second. 

“We clinched pretty early,” Hayes said. “But now the next step is knowing that it’s gonna get harder. Like teams are not looking at us like the new team anymore. Like we’re a real contender.”