WNBA Finals 2026: Gabby Williams earns MVP honors after postseason-record 28 second-half points

· Yahoo Sports

Last year’s Golden State Valkyries were a pleasant surprise in their first ever season, but seemed to be missing a particular kind of player before they could enter the WNBA’s top tier of contenders. They responded by signing Gabby Williams from the Seattle Storm.

We can now safely say that was a franchise-altering decision.

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Williams was named the 2026 WNBA Finals MVP after scoring 28 second-half points in a winner-take-all Game 7 to lead Golden State to its first title in its second year of existence. It was the first Game 7 in WNBA history, and Williams was the undisputed star.

It was a slow first half for Williams, who entered Game 7 having already averaged a team-high 17.8 points per game in the series. She was at only two points on 1-of-4 shooting when both teams headed back to the locker room, but like many other games this season, she caught fire when it mattered.

Williams finished the game with 30 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, 4 blocks, 2 steals and only 1 turnover, while also doing her part in the Valkyries’ suffocating team defense. Those 28 second-half points are a WNBA postseason record. Her 30 total points are the most in a WNBA Finals winner-take-all game.

Across the entire series, Williams 137 points and 18 steals are both WNBA Finals records, though that is helped by this being the first season of the new best-of-7 format.

That adds one more trophy to a campaign in which Williams had already earned All-Star honors, a place on the first-team All-Defense team, a Defensive Player of the Year runner-up finish and downballot MVP votes. One could go as far as calling that the greatest season in Valkyries history.

Before joining Golden State, Williams spent her pro basketball career as an indisputably quality player, but one who hadn’t broken through as a true star. She was part of an all-time UConn run led by Breanna Stewart, going fourth overall in the 2018 WNBA Draft to the Chicago Sky.

That Sky career ended after three seasons, when Williams’ desire to play for Team France in the 2020 Olympics led to a season-long suspension and trade to the Los Angeles Sparks, who then flipped her to the Seattle Storm.

Williams’ defense was never in doubt, but injuries forced her to miss large chunks of the 2023 and 2024 season. It was in 2025 she earned her first career All-Star honors, enough to earn a three-year, $3.7 million contract from the Valkyries last offseason.

And now she’s the top scorer on a WNBA champion, while perfectly meshing with Golden State’s aggressive identity on defense.

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