The Golden State Valkyries and the Sparks played a match on Saturday evening which had high implications in the WNBA qualifiers. By entering the evening with identical 14-15 records, which were tied for the eighth and last after-season spot, the and Golden State understood the importance of this competition.
In a decisive victory of 72-59, the Valkyries fell to an equal .500 to 15-15, creating a separation game on the process. The nature with high issues of this game has been observed in several ways, one being the tensions between the players.
With a little less than four minutes to do in the match, the Sparks goalkeeper Kelsey Plum, committed a blatant fault to which Golden State was an exception.
Kelsey Plum WTF was this kick ??????? 👀👀👀 pic.twitter.com/wo52wg2qbn
– AK (@ Sudharsan_ak10) August 10, 2025
Not only did the Valkyries challenged the flagrant fault of Plum, but also many WNBA fans. While the video was starting to become viral on social networks, several fans called for the suspension of Plum.
“Suspend [Plum]”Said a fan.
“Must be suspended for this,” said another.
“Many examples of that,” added a plum. “And that should really be a suspension. We cannot have players deliberately in danger by frustration.”
“Games like it are simply unacceptable and it must be suspended like 3 games minimum,” said another.
While fans continued to call the WNBA to take measures against Plum, the head coach of Sparks, Lynn Roberts, defended his star player.
“The blatant, she was trying to kick the ball,” said Roberts after the match. “She didn’t want to – I didn’t see the replay, but I saw her live, and I know she didn’t want to say anything by that. She is not a dirty player.”
As for the Valkyries head coach, Natalie Nakase, she was also asked about the game – but mainly the reaction of the crowd and the overall rivalry of the counter San Francisco which exists in sport.
“I guess I can see this,” she said about the perceived rivalry. “Today was just a must for us … I just want to leave it there. If people want to create it like a rival, then safe. It’s part of the sports.”
Plum is in his first season with the Sparks after spending the first eight years of his WNBA career with the Las Vegas Aces (formerly San Antonio Stars). It was the overall choice n ° 1 in 2017 and won two WNBA championships in addition to winning the sixth woman of the year 2021.
Although fans believe that Plum should have been suspended for its game against Golden State, the league did not act beyond the flagrants that were issued. Plum started for Sunday evening against the Seattle storm in Crypto.com Arena.
