By The first-ever WNBA Finals Game 7 delivered on Saturday night.
While trick-or-treaters were out hunting for candy, a 68-63 Golden State Valkyries title-clinching victory proved popcorn-worthy.
Natalie Nakase's squad rallied on Halloween to take down the Atlanta Dream, and the must-watch showdown at San Francisco's Chase Center averaged 3.3 million viewers on USA Network, CNBC and Peacock, becoming the most-watched WNBA game since the league's innaugural season in 1997.
Gabby Williams put up a 30-piece, scoring a WNBA postseason-record 28 second-half points and giving her Valkyries a shot in the arm after they trailed 30-24 at the break. Williams, this year's Finals MVP, ultimately powered Golden State to a monumental victory over Angel Reese, Allisha Gray, Rhyne Howard and the rest of the Dream at Ballhalla.
3.3M for Game 7 is official, the most-watched WNBA playoff game ever, per Nielsen Big Data + Panel and Adobe Analytics.
The final number is the most-watched playoff game ever, and the second-most-watched WNBA game since the 1997 opening weekend, trailing only 3.31M for the… https://t.co/RIDRjbJWjxpic.twitter.com/Molpy6dHHX
— Colin Salao (@colincsalao) November 3, 2026
In a matchup of two franchises searching for their first-ever league championship, the nascent Valkyries — just in their second season of existence — came out on top.
The Dream, currently led by Karl Smesko, have now lost in the Finals each of the four times they've advanced that far. It was their first appearance in the Finals since 2013.
This season was only the second in league history that featured a best-of-seven Finals. The W expanded the series from a best-of-five in 2024, first implementing the change last season. But the 2025 campaign ended somewhat unceremoniously, with the Las Vegas Aces sweeping the Phoenix Mercury in four games.
In 2026, the WNBA got the full best-of-seven experience, featuring not only its first-ever Game 7 but also, in the process, its first-ever Game 6.
Notably, the timing of Game 6 was hotly debated after scheduling complications resulted in the contest starting at 12:30 p.m. ET last Thursday.
Back then, the Valkyries had a 3-2 lead in the series and were on the road. The early tip-off stemmed from a conflict that was pervasive throughout the series. In order to continue to play Dream home playoff games at State Farm Arena, they had to work around the venue's prior commitments, including those to the NBA's Hawks.
When it came to Game 6, that iteration of Valkyries-Dream had to be played early — that is, if it was going to take place on Thursday, due to a previously scheduled Hawks game that night. That compromise was scrutinized, leading to a Dream ownership clarifying that, on multiple occasions, it had raised concerns about the matter.
Nevertheless, despite all of that controversy, Game 6 still generated relatively impressive viewership numbers. In fact, the Dream's series-extending 80-69 victory went down as the fifth most-watched WNBA Finals game on cable to date, according to USA Sports PR.
As a whole, the series zigged and zagged, with Golden State taking Games 1, 4, 5 and 7, whereas Atlanta wound up winning Games 2, 3 and 6. Along the way, Reese — one of the biggest names in the sport — piled up four double-doubles, the second most a player has recorded in a single WNBA Finals.
In the end, though, a well-rounded Valkyries team wore the crown, after Williams starred in an eye-catching winner-take-all game on Saturday.
