Defending Champion Aces Open WNBA Semifinals at Chase Center Against the History-Making Valkyries

SAN FRANCISCO, OCTOBER 4, 2026 — Four wins. That's all that separates the defending-champion Las Vegas Aces from another trip to the WNBA Finals. Game 1 of their best-of-five semifinal tips off at 1 p.m. PT today at Chase Center against the No. 2 Golden State Valkyries, live on NBC and streaming on Peacock — the network's first WNBA postseason broadcast since 2002.

A morning award, then a ball game

Sunday started with a celebration in the Valkyries' locker room. Golden State forward Janelle Salaün was named the 2026 WNBA Sixth Player of the Year — and not just named, but named unanimously, the first unanimous winner in the award's history. She received all 74 votes from a national panel of sportswriters and broadcasters, the league announced Sunday morning. Per USA Today, the closest anyone had come before was Dearica Hamby, who won with 41 of 43 votes in 2019.

The 25-year-old French forward, 6-foot-2, came off the bench in all 40 games she played this season and turned the role into a weapon. She averaged a career-high 12.7 points, which led all reserve players in the league and ranked seventh all-time, per USA Today. She set single-season WNBA records by a reserve for total points (509) and three-pointers made (93), and shot 41.6 percent from the field and 38.4 percent from three — both career highs. According to USA Today, her teammates lifted her out of her seat in the locker room when she learned the news.

Salaün's emergence is the engine of the league's best bench: Golden State's reserves combined to average 36 points per game this season, per USA Today. It's a fitting honor for a second-year franchise whose identity is built on depth, shooting and the relentless acceptance of roles — the exact ethos Swish Appeal flagged as the foundation of the Valkyries' success.

The Valkyries' dream second season

Consider what Golden State has already done. The Valkyries finished 32-12, the No. 2 seed in the league, in just their second season of existence. On Friday night they beat the No. 7 Dallas Wings 77-73 in a winner-take-all Game 3 to win the first playoff series in franchise history — and they did it by erasing a 16-point deficit, with two-time All-Star Gabby Williams leading the way with 19 points and 4 rebounds, per NBC Sports.

The Bay Area knows what it has. All fans attending Game 1 at Chase Center receive a violet “We Are Ballhalla” t-shirt courtesy of Chase Freedom, the team announced, and the Valkyries' Bar Network — more than 40 locations across the Bay Area — will carry every postseason game. This is a market that has adopted its expansion team completely, and today it gets its biggest home game yet.

The defending champions' road through

The Aces (31-13) have been here before, and that's the point. Las Vegas survived a three-game first-round series against Caitlin Clark and the No. 6 Indiana Fever, closing it out 94-83 on Thursday night. A'ja Wilson — a three-time WNBA champion, per NBC Sports — dropped a game-high 36 points in that winner-take-all Game 3, and averaged 32 points and 11.7 rebounds across the first round, per the Review-Journal.

Wilson's season line tells the story of a player operating at an absurd level: 26.2 points, 9.4 rebounds, 1.4 steals and 1.9 blocks per game, shooting 52.7 percent from the field and 40.4 percent from three, per iHeart Sports Bay Area. She isn't alone: Jackie Young averaged 18.9 points and 6.8 assists, Chelsea Gray 12.0 points and 6.7 assists, and Jewell Loyd chipped in 8.0 points per game. The Review-Journal put it simply Sunday morning: the defending champions are four wins away from another trip to the Finals.

The history — and what to watch

History favors Las Vegas. The Aces went 3-0 against Golden State in the regular season — the only team the Valkyries failed to beat all year, as Valhalla.Basketball noted — including a 91-81 victory at Chase Center, per the Review-Journal. But Friday's comeback win over Dallas showed the Valkyries' formula travels: clamp the perimeter, lean on the bench, and let Williams and Salaün tilt the floor with shooting and pace.

The tactical question is whether Golden State's smallball lineups — used for both offensive and defensive reasons in recent weeks — can hold up against a Las Vegas team that can run double-post lineups for nearly the entire game, as Valhalla.Basketball framed it. The Aces want to play through Wilson in the halfcourt; the Valkyries want to keep the game spaced, fast and deep into their rotation. Whichever team imposes its terms first today takes a huge step toward a 2-2-1 series that the Aces will close in Las Vegas.

How to watch the series

NBC is treating this like an event: its postseason coverage begins today with the first WNBA playoff games on the network since 2002. Zora Stephenson calls play-by-play for Game 1 alongside analyst Sarah Kustok and courtside reporter Ashley ShahAhmadi, and the pre-game show, WNBA Showtime, starts at 3:30 p.m. ET on NBC and Peacock with Hall of Famers Sue Bird and Cheryl Miller, eight-time All-Star Tina Charles, and hosts Maria Taylor and LaChina Robinson.

The full schedule, per the Valkyries: Game 2 is Wednesday, Oct. 7 at 6:30 p.m. PT at Chase Center (Peacock and NBCSN); Game 3 is Friday, Oct. 9 at 6:30 p.m. PT at Michelob ULTRA Arena in Las Vegas (Peacock and NBCSN); Games 1 and 4 are on NBC and Peacock. The Previously full semifinals preview breaks down both series — including the Defensive Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year races — and our Raiders-Chiefs game-day story covers the other giant Vegas sports afternoon. The Previously news desk will have postgame coverage tonight.