The Golden State Valkyries just won a championship in their second season.

Not with a stacked roster. Not with 2-3 big names carrying everyone else.

They did it with a team made up almost entirely of players other teams left unprotected. #7s.

In this Hot Take, we break down why it’s not just a feel-good story — it’s a leadership strategy.

In their expansion draft, every existing team got to protect 6 players. Everyone else is up for grabs.

So the Valkyries were built from #7s — talented players who weren’t getting minutes, weren’t maximized, weren’t seen as stars where they were.

Veronica Burton couldn’t get playing time before. She became Most Improved Player and the core leader of the team.

Gabby Williams and Kia Stokes were known as good defenders, not stars. They became absolute stars in this system.

Kaitlyn Chen was the Valkyrie’s last draft pick. No one thought she’d get drafted. She became an instrumental, hard-working, joy-bringing glue player.

No superstars. Deep bench strength.

As Meg put it, this is Adam Grant’s Give and Take in real life — too many stars and not enough supporting players, and you actually do worse.

Coach Natalie Nakase was competitive and obsessed with winning. But she led with care:

1. Defense first. She didn’t let anyone touch a basketball for the first few days of training camp. Only defense. It attracted players who want to hustle, and repelled players chasing stardom.

2. Vulnerability on purpose. After a reporter asked about Brene Brown-style vulnerability work, Nakase pointed to a two-week road trip early on — dinners together every night, games late into the night, learning what made each other tick.

3. Humility over ego. Gabby Williams would get benched early if she was off, collect herself, and come back in and dominate. No ego. Amy calls it “Gabby magic.”

It’s the leadership lineage too: Gregg Popovich -> Becky Hammon -> Nakase. High standards + deep care for the person.

You don’t need more stars. You need more glue.

1. Look for undervalued talent that’s underused elsewhere — not just proven big names.

2. Be explicit about what wins here. For Nakase it was defense. What’s your version?

3. Build cohesion with intent. That road trip wasn’t extra. It was the work.

The whole team is glue.

— Meg & Amy

Watch, then tell us: are you over-hiring for stars and under-valuing your #7s?

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** Typos and poor grammar either because I'm too lazy to edit properly, or to make you feel confident this was written by a flawed human and not AI generated.