LAS VEGAS – Golden State Valkyries guard Tiffany Hayes is no stranger to the moment. When the lightest are brightest, and the pressure is the heaviest, the 37-year-old guard knows exactly what to do to change the tenor of a game. Whether it's blitzing her way to the cup like a bolt of lightning, lurking in the passing lanes like a tiger on the prowl, or simply hyping up her teammates with her energy and her charm, Hayes knows, after 14 seasons in the WNBA, precisely what's needed to match the spotlight.
But even a seasoned veteran had to blink, even if it was just a tiny one, when the buzzer sounded on the Valkyries' 87-77 Game 3 victory over the Las Vegas Aces. As hugs were exchanged and tears were shed, G-S-V chants from the visiting Valkyries fans rained down; Hayes and the rest of the team could finally let the realization wash over them: they just swept the defending champs. And they were going to the WNBA Finals.
“Man, oh my gosh, Amazing. This is-it's really surreal,” Hayes told ClutchPoints in the aftermath of Golden State's post-game locker room celebration. Clad in the Valkyries' Finals t-shirt and a kilowatt smile on her face, Hayes' eyes were wide open and a hundred miles away, as if to take in every single second of the historic moment she and Golden State had just created, before she snapped back to the present.
“Just looking back on our season, everything we've been through, all the learning, the process, the gelling, the ups and downs, and it all came down to this moment. But we got more to come because we're not done. But I mean, f***, we got to celebrate this, man. This is history. This is history right here.”
The Valkyries' history writes itself. A Finals appearance berth in just their second year of existence. Powered by an historically great defense. Led by a rag-tag group of players collected in the expansion draft, players cast off from teams that no longer wanted them, players who were neither appreciated nor valued.
But among the many things that make Golden State's magical, Hollywood-esque run to the championship game special for Hayes is the fact that she chose the Valkyries. She decided to take what coach Natalie Nakase described as a “leap of faith” when Nakase asked Hayes to follow her from the Aces to the Bay, when all of these accomplishments were merely hopes and aspirations.
“I remember us having a conversation (with Hayes) about coming here and saying, ‘Are you willing to take the leap of faith with me? It's going to be my first year. Do you want to do this together?'” Nakase said after Game 2 when asked how it feels watching Hayes have this much fun in this big of a moment. “And she said, ‘Yeah.'”
And it wasn't just point A to point B from that moment on. There was turbulence. Before becoming the first expansion team in WNBA history to make the playoffs, Golden State had to find itself, its identity, and its culture. And there were highs and lows. Hayes gutted through injury after injury in 2025, from a broken nose to a left knee injury to the simple nagging features of playing at 37 years old. But Hayes, Nakase, and the Valkyries withstood it all, finding themselves on the Aces' home court celebrating how far they'd come.
“I'd take it over and over and over again,” Hayes said when asked how it feels to see her leap of faith materialize in real time. She shook her head to emphasize how resolute she remains in her decision to join Golden State. “I man- I don't even know what to say. I'm just grateful that they even asked me to take that leap of faith. And after a lot of prayers and talking to family, it was a really hard decision to leave here. I had a great time here (in Las Vegas). I say it all the time, but I took that leap of faith, I followed (Nakase) here, believing in the plan, believing in her, Ohemaa (Nyanin), and everybody at Golden State. And man, it's turning out to be a great decision.”
How Tiffany Hayes seized the moment for the Valkyries
However, that leap of faith had to be earned. It had to be seized from the hands of A'ja Wilson, in the city where she won the 2024 Sixth Player of the Year award. And with the Valkyries down 11 early into the fourth quarter, Hayes went out there and took it by doing what she does best– attacking the rim, again and again and again, with reckless abandon. Because with offense in a rut, and the Aces' defense selling out to stop the Valkyries' efforts to punch the paint, Golden State needed someone to loosen up their looks by forcing the defense to collapse in the restricted area.
And though her efforts led to a 2-of-10 shot chart at that point, they also ignited the Valkyries' pivotal 17-0 run to get back into the game, changing the game's energy and pace.
“I knew that that's my job. I want to come in, get stuff started, be a spark, give us some energy, getting around here. And I know no one can stay in front of me, (and) I was well rested from the first half. I knew I had to come in and give something. And right off the bat, we got quick buckets, quick buckets, taking time out, and I knew that's all we needed to get the game going.”
And once Hayes got the game going, she handed it off to Gabby Williams– the closer. The star. The inevitability. In overtime, Williams, heading downhill against a scrambling Aces defense, yanked the ball behind her back and rose for the game-sealing dagger, to the delight of Hayes and the rest of the Valkyries. As Hayes has been telling everyone who will listen: “It's Gabby Williams.”
Article Continues Below“She's our closer. It's Gabby Williams.” Hayes said, leaving out the expletive she used last time she said Williams' name like that. “I keep trying to tell people, nah, but I'm just grateful for her to be on my side and not on the other team. She's one-of-a-kind, man. I really think she doesn't get enough credit for how hard she works and what she brings to our team. But I'm just glad that she's here, and the world gets to see it. We're definitely giving her flowers. We're gonna lift her up every time through the ups and the downs because we know what she's capable of. And tonight she showed it.”
Still, it's a two-way street, according to Williams.
“We were saying it in the locker room as soon as the game was over. Just like it's a great tandem, I think, her and I, to have each other. I think it's good for both of us,” Williams said of Hayes, unable to contain a smile as she spoke about her teammate.
“‘Okay, you got it? Cool. You got. I got it. All right. I got you.' Just taking turns, getting off of it. Especially when things are a bit stickier, which they will be. (It's the) Playoffs. We're fighting for our lives. But it is such a relief to have a teammate like that. This is Tiffany Hayes coming off the bench. Like, are you kidding me? This is such an advantage, and it's again, it allows me to feel a bit lighter when shots aren't falling. They don't feel as heavy. So I'm like, okay, if I don't have it, I know Tip's got it. And then as soon as Tip doesn't have it, she knows I got it, and that's just how we've been rolling all season.”
Hayes, Williams, and the Valkyries know they will need more of that one-two slashing combination as they face their ultimate task in the WNBA Finals. “The job's not finished,” the Golden State players echoed every time they started to get even a little bit excited and happy about the momentous victory. But for Hayes, knowing how far she and the Valkyries have come, they are still going to enjoy the moment. Just for a bit. Before they narrow their focus on the task at hand.
“Definitely a lot of rest and recovery,” Hayes said when asked how they turn the page toward the Atlanta Dream while balancing the history of this moment. “A little bit of a celebration today, obviously. Like I said, it's a huge deal. We don't want to take anything for granted. Might play a little bingo or something like that, you know? For the free ski. But after that, we got rest and recovery. We got big games next week, so we got to get mentally prepared for that as well.”