TRENDING Fantasy Basketball Sign Up College football live updates A.J. Brown coming off IR ALCS Game 4 postponed Defense will win WNBA Finals Story by Story by Cathy Engelbert Says WNBA Free Agency Has Helped Break Up Super-Team Era (Kelley L Cox-Imagn Images) Grant Afseth Sat, October 17, 2026 at 10:48 PM UTC · 3 min read About Our Ads Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Neither team in this year's WNBA Finals has won a championship.
The second-seeded Golden State Valkyries hosted the fourth-seeded Atlanta Dream in Game 1 on Saturday at Chase Center in San Francisco.
Before tip-off, commissioner Cathy Engelbert said much of the league's parity traces to the free agency system in its new collective bargaining agreement.
Three franchises once labeled super teams — New York, Minnesota, and Las Vegas — all went home before the Finals.
Las Vegas, the defending champion, lost three straight to the Valkyries in the semifinals. Golden State had beaten the Dallas Wings in the first round.
Atlanta got past the Washington Mystics, then swept New York.
Engelbert said the Dream entered the Finals 5-0 in the playoffs and riding a franchise-record 10-game winning streak. This series will produce the eighth different champion in the last 11 seasons, she said.
Any of the eight playoff teams could have reached the Finals, by Engelbert's account.
"I think expanding the number of teams, expanding the number of games, expanding the playoffs," Engelbert said. "Obviously, I think the free agency system that we just negotiated as part of this collective bargaining agreement has worked well so far, and I think will work well into the future."
This spring's CBA produced the first million-dollar salaries in league history.
The Dream consulted their players before signing DeWanna Bonner , Rhyne Howard said this week.
Two years ago, the talk around the league was of super teams that would dominate indefinitely, Engelbert said.
"There is a lot of parity because of the free agency movement and new coaching staffs, new GMs came into the league and took a different look on how to build a team," Engelbert explained. "Obviously, Dan Padover has been a great GM. Look at what he's built here to be in the Finals this year, and he was the GM of Vegas in the early days that then led to their kind of early years of championships."
Atlanta hired Padover away from Las Vegas in 2021. He won the league's Basketball Executive of the Year award that same year for his work with the Aces, then won it again with the Dream in 2025.
Padover sent two draft picks for Allisha Gray and brought in Jordin Canada in 2024.
After Indiana knocked the Dream out in last year's first round, he went and got Angel Reese.
Dream coach Karl Smesko, now in his second season, was also his hire.
When the league first announced expansion, some predicted it would degrade the quality of play.
Engelbert said the opposite happened, crediting training, nutrition, strength work, and skill.
"When I came in, 8 percent of our players were born outside of the United States, and now it's a little over 30," Engelbert said. "I think 10 of the 24 playing on this court today are international players. So I think that has helped, too, make the talent much broader."
Isobel Borlase, a 22-year-old Australian rookie, came off the Dream bench in the semifinal sweep of New York.
Smesko said Atlanta would not have won Games 2 or 3 without her .
Golden State finished 32-12 and beat Atlanta all three times they met in the regular season.
The Dream ended two games back at 30-14 after winning nine of their last 10.
This is Atlanta's first Finals appearance since 2013. The Dream also reached the Finals in 2010 and 2011, their third and fourth seasons.
Game 2 is Monday at 8 p.m. ET at Chase Center. Game 5 and Game 7, if necessary, are also in San Francisco.
Source: Sports
