Valkyries sign All-Star Williams to multiyear deal

All-Star forward Gabby Williams has signed a multiyear deal with the Golden State Valkyries, the team announced Sunday.

Williams played a key role in helping the Seattle Storm clinch a playoff spot in 2025. Nicknamed the "French Army Knife" for her versatility and ability to impact the game in multiple ways, the seventh-year forward made her first All-Star appearance and was named to the All-Defensive First Team.

"For a player of Gabby's caliber to choose us in just our second year ... means everything," Valkyries general manager Ohemaa Nyanin said in a statement. "She is world-class. One of the best defenders in the world, an WNBA All-Star, and someone who makes everyone around her better."

She posted career highs in several categories in 2025, including points (11.6) and assists (4.2). She led the WNBA in steals per game (2.3) and finished with 99 for the season -- one shy of tying Teresa Weatherspoon's longstanding 100-steal record set in 1998.

Drafted fourth overall by the Sky in 2018, the 5-foot-11 Williams spent three seasons with Chicago before being traded to the Los Angeles Sparks in 2021. She did not appear in any games for the Sparks and was traded to the Storm in 2022. Williams signed a one-year deal with Seattle in February 2025.

Wiliams, 29, won a silver medal with France at the 2024 Paris Olympics and was named to the All-Star Five. She also won bronze with France in 2020 and was part of UConn's championship teams in 2015 and 2016.