Gabby Williams is leaving Seattle for Golden State, signing a multiyear deal with the Valkyries in free agency on April 12, 2026. The team announced the move on Sunday.
The 29-year-old gives Golden State one of the league’s most disruptive defenders after a season in which she averaged a career-high 11.6 points, 4.2 assists and a league-best 2.3 steals per game for the Storm. Williams also made her first All-Star appearance and earned All-Defensive First Team honors.
Golden State general manager Ohemaa Nyanin said in a statement that for a player of Williams’ caliber to choose the team in its second year “means everything.” Nyanin added that Williams is “world-class,” one of the best defenders in the world, an All-Star and a player who makes everyone around her better.
The signing comes after Golden State reached the playoffs in its first year as an expansion team, a milestone that helped establish the Valkyries as an immediate factor in the league. Williams joins a roster that already had momentum, and her arrival signals that the franchise is trying to build on it quickly rather than wait for a longer runway.
Williams was drafted fourth by Chicago in 2018, then traded to Los Angeles in 2021 before being dealt to Seattle in 2022 without playing a game for the Sparks. She had become one of Seattle’s top defenders before entering free agency, and her move to Golden State closes one chapter for the Storm while giving the Valkyries a proven veteran who has already shown she can change games on both ends.
What Golden State gets next is the harder part to measure: whether Williams can help turn a promising expansion story into a team that can last beyond it.
