WNBA Finals Game 7 Tonight: Valkyries and Dream Play the First Winner-Take-All Finale in League History
The Atlanta Dream forced a deciding game with an 80-69 win in Game 6, and tonight in San Francisco the Golden State Valkyries host Game 7 of the WNBA Finals - the first Game 7 the Finals have ever had - with a first championship on the line for the winner.
The WNBA season comes down to one game, and it is a game the league has never played before. The No. 2 seed Golden State Valkyries host the No. 4 seed Atlanta Dream tonight at Chase Center in San Francisco in Game 7 of the WNBA Finals - the first Game 7 in Finals history, arriving in the second season of the best-of-seven Finals format. Tipoff is 8 p.m. Eastern, 7 p.m. Central, on USA Network and CNBC, with streaming on Peacock.
Atlanta earned this game the hard way. Facing elimination in Game 6 on Thursday, the Dream beat the Valkyries 80-69 to tie the series at three games each and send it back to San Francisco. USA TODAY's Game 7 file notes the pattern that has decided the whole series: all six games have been determined by points conceded on turnovers, which makes ball security tonight's obvious hinge.
The oddsmakers see a coin flip with a home-court thumb on the scale. Golden State is a 1.5-point home favorite with a total of 142.5 in the BetMGM and TheSpread listings read this run - numbers that price in both the Valkyries' home floor and how little has separated these teams across six games. Atlanta remains without forward Brionna Jones, who is out for the season, per TheSpread's preview.
For Houston, tonight's finale is also a glimpse of next year's map: the Connecticut franchise's relocation brings the Houston Comets back to the league for 2027, a story this station files separately in this cycle. Tonight, though, the whole sport watches San Francisco, where one of two franchises lifts its first championship by midnight.
