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SAN FRANCISCO — Word of the Valkyries’ homecourt advantage has made its way to the East Coast. Then again, the New York Liberty’s biggest star has good reason to be keeping tabs on the newest entrant to the WNBA.
“Hopefully I don’t get too many boos,” Sabrina Ionescu said Tuesday afternoon. “I think a lot of people know I’m an East Bay kid.”
Another packed house of 18,000-plus is expected to be on hand Wednesday at Chase Center when the Golden State Valkyries host the defending champions. It’s a scene Ionescu couldn’t even imagine all those years ago on the blacktop at Walnut Creek’s Larkey Park, where she got her start.
“Never,” she said. “I feel like I kind of said goodbye to the Bay Area my last year playing in college when we played against Cal and Stanford. … It’s crazy to even think about.”
Almost a decade removed from her decorated run at Miramonte High School, Ionescu, now 27, is in her fifth professional season since she was drafted first overall out of the University of Oregon. She’s a WNBA champion, an Olympic gold medalist and has more followers on Instagram (1.4 million and counting) than all but three of her peers. She has logged 155 career games as a pro, but Wednesday’s will be her first in front of her hometown crowd.
Growing up without a local WNBA team, she never thought it would be possible.
“The Warriors were my team because I was that Bay Area kid that wanted to go watch professional basketball and Steph Curry was that person for me,” Ionescu said of her upbringing in the Bay Area before the arrival this year of the Valkyries.
“Now, for us to be able to be female athletes coming back and playing and building a fanbase in the Bay Area, there’s going to be little girls running around and wanting to buy a Valkyries jersey, put it on and hope and dream of playing in the WNBA because they’re watching us do it.”
The game will be Ionescu’s first time competing inside Chase Center, though she almost had the chance over NBA All-Star weekend, before a sequel to her 3-point shootout with Curry fell apart. While her WNBA allegiances are elsewhere, Ionescu recently gave a boost to another professional women’s expansion team in the area, becoming an investor and commercial adviser to Bay FC, the National Womens’s Soccer League club that launched in 2023.
The venture was just the latest in a burgeoning empire off the court that includes a signature sneaker deal with Nike and garnered her a spot on Forbes’ “30 under 30” list of athletes. On the court, she is averaging a career-best 20.4 points per game and figures to give the Valkyries a handful.
She sat out the Liberty’s last game with a sore neck but is expected to play Wednesday.
“She’s obviously a three level scorer,” Golden State coach Natalie Nakase said. “She can shoot from deep. So again, anytime you have elite scorers like that, you got to keep them off rhythm.”
Sandy Brondello, the Liberty’s coach, has watched Ionescu evolve from an elite talent to what she described as a “franchise player” and “probably one of the greatest of all time when she stops playing.” The veteran coach joined New York in 2022, Ionescu’s second full year in the league, and led them to the WNBA Finals in 2023 before winning it all in 2024.
“It’s been fun as a coach to watch her grow these last few years, not just on the court but her leadership,” Brondello said. “Her game just keeps going to another level. … If the offseason she put in so much work. I think she came back a better-conditioned athlete with even more layers to her game. She’s a better defender. And that’s part of the journey. She’s still a young player who hasn’t hit her prime. It’s exciting to see what the next few years bring.”
For now, Ionescu will have so many friends, family members, former teachers and ex-coaches in the building Wednesday that she lost count of the exact number.
A favorable schedule allowed her teammates to explore the city or visit wine country — Brondello opted for a tasting at the esteemed Caymus in Napa Valley — but Ionescu used the Liberty’s day off Monday to make the drive home for a makeshift family reunion.
“The same people that helped shape my career are all here,” she said. “For me, it’s like you never forget where you came from. The area that shaped who you are. The parks I would go play at. High school. It’s all been a part of the journey. It’s one of those things that every time you go back, you feel it.”
One way or another, the home crowd will be felt Wednesday night.
Ionescu, who attended her fair share of games during the Warriors’ glory days, said “all I’ve been hearing is that it’s like Oracle Arena vibes.”
“I was a kid that went to so many games and I was the one cheering,” she said. “Now, to be on this end of it … hopefully I get some cheers. It’s going to be an atmosphere on the road that you don’t get often and I’m excited to say it’s here.”
Staff writer Nathan Canilao contributed to this report.
Originally Published: June 24, 2025 at 5:35 PM PDT
