Joe Lacob has achieved massive success in the NBA, as the Golden State Warriors franchise he bought in 2010 has become a championship dynasty. Recently, Lacob talked about the grand ambitions that he has in mind when it comes to the Golden State Valkyries, the WNBA franchise that he purchased.
Appearing at Sportico’s Invest West conference this week, Lacob admitted that there was one WNBA player in particular who inspired him to get involved with the league.
“Caitlin Clark, very interesting. That’s like the Magic Johnson-Larry Bird moment in 1980…she’s that good. She’s that game-changing.”
Lacob added that, along with Caitlin Clark, more and more bankable stars have emerged from the college pipeline as of late. Because of this wave of talent, Lacob and his business partner Peter Guber decided to pay the price of $50 million to get their hands on the Valkyries’ expansion rights.
“There are others. The quality of the players coming out of the college ranks, the branding of those players, very different than it was [in the past]. So, we detected that.”
In their inaugural WNBA season last year, the Valkyries finished with a winning record of 23-21 and embarked on their first-ever playoff trip. This year, Valkyries head coach Natalie Nakase will look to take the team on an even deeper postseason run.
Valkyries Draft Pick Involved in Controversial Flau’jae Johnson Trade Signs With Another Western Conference Team
Over the past few weeks, however, the Valkyries have left a sour taste in fans’ mouths when they decided to trade away potential franchise player Flau’jae Johnson in a draft-night deal.
Adding to the intrigue of this situation is the fact that Marta Suarez, the 2026 draft pick that the Valkyries got in the Johnson trade, was waived by the team this past weekend. Then, on Wednesday, Suarez signed a developmental contract with the Phoenix Mercury.
As the season progresses, fans will likely continue to wonder why the Valkyries traded away Johnson, despite team officials’ claims that it was a move motivated by cap flexibility.