It’s no secret that the Golden State Valkyries want to be the best defensive team in the WNBA. The early returns through six games suggest they have a legitimate case. 

Golden State (4-2) is entering a three-games-in-six-days stretch with the second-best defensive rating in the league. The Valkyries trail only Atlanta, who boast Rhyne Howard and Allisha Gray, and rank ahead of defensive-minded head coach Cheryl Reeve’s Minnesota Lynx in the category. The Valkyries allow 76.3 points per game, the fewest in the WNBA, and boast the league’s best point differential. 

They’ve held teams to 70 points or less on three occasions, including against the New York Liberty and their stockpile of scoring weapons. 

And yet, internally, the Valkyries do not think they’re anywhere close to where they should be defensively. 

“We know we’re at the bottom tier of what we actually could be,” head coach Natalie Nakase said at practice Wednesday after reviewing film from the season’s opening stretch. She said her team did not execute its defensive game plan in Indiana, allowing all three of the Fever’s stars — Caitlin Clark, Kelsey Mitchell, and Aliyah Boston — to shine. Nakase added that Golden State delivered defensively for only about half of Monday’s blowout 97-70 win over Connecticut. 

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Last season, the Valkyries finished third in the league in defensive rating (100.6) and powered an unexpected playoff berth behind a disruptive, often chaotic, high-pressure defensive front. Internally, that wasn’t good enough. This year’s version of the scheme is even more controlled and deeper, leaning on positionless lineups and versatility.

It’s the depth and range of the roster, which appears as deep as 11 with Justė Jocytė active, that has made the Valkyries difficult to attack. Gabby Williams, the team’s biggest offseason addition coming off an All-Defensive First Team selection last season and the Defensive Player of the Year nod in EuroLeague, is an elite multi-positional defender. Plus, her confidence in her surrounding four gives her a new level of risk-taking on the wing. Kayla Thornton’s return adds more size and switching flexibility both around the perimeter and in the post. Kiah Stokes and Laeticia Amihere both provide rim protection without sacrificing mobility.

“It just makes us more deadly, per se,” said Kaila Charles, who typically shares point-of-attack duties with Veronica Burton. “We have so many players who can guard multiple positions. That fuels us, the fact that we have so much defensive versatility, and our defense leads to our offense with the ability to push in transition.” 

The Valkyries’ defensive success stems in part from their offense taking care of the ball. Led by Burton, they’ve committed only 10 turnovers per game — fewest in the league — which allows their defense to get set in the halfcourt instead of backpedaling in transition. Because the Valkyries don’t gift-wrap extra possessions by coughing up the ball, their opponents are averaging only 61.3 field goal attempts against them, also the fewest in the league. That’s roughly 13 fewer shots per game allowed than teams take against the reigning champion Las Vegas Aces. 

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It’s early, and the Valkyries haven’t faced a real test of a close fourth-quarter game, but they are forcing the second-most turnovers of any team, averaging 6.5 steals and 4.3 blocks per game. Taking care of the ball and forcing teams into miscues is an equation for possession dominance.

But for all the glimpses at what the Valkyries could become defensively, there are still unresolved questions. They’ve started slowly in every matchup excluding New York. They have yet to match up against some of the bigger frontcourts, which may present different challenges. 

Having Williams, Thornton, Burton, and Charles in the starting lineup gives Nakase the ability to switch, trap, and rotate without compromising matchups. The system is clearly working, and it often looks improved from last season, but the inconsistencies are not yet wrinkled out. Some nights the Valkyries can suffocate high-scoring offenses. Other nights they look like a group that can’t string their identity together for 40 minutes. Sometimes their disruption is fueling; other times it’s not enough to compensate for a poor shooting night. 

“Definitely not satisfied,” Burton said of her team’s defensive output. “Some games we start off really focused on our game plan and executing it to a high level, then other games we don’t.”