Barker and Basketball

I'm talking all my favourite stories in the world of basketball this week including:

- The Valkyries winning the WNBA championship is just their second season

- Why Cole Anthony isn't all wrong in his frustration with NBL refs

- The Madi Ryan hype is real

- There's a new face of the Golden State Warriors that is getting plenty of headlines

It's another defensive slog but the Valkyries adjust in some big ways and they get the job done, beating Atlanta to even the series at 2-2. My thoughts on game 4.

The Dream opened up their games in Atlanta with a big win in Game 3. It's really Atlanta's series to lose from here and I don't think they will after seeing what I just saw.

#WNBA

Max Mackinnon has found his way back to Brissy to play for his hometown Bullets and just speaking to him here, I can tell how much it means to him. He's started off really well, putting up numbers only few can do in the league, so I was very keen to chat with him about the start of his NBL career.

00:00 WNBL stories

04:05 NBL stories

08:50 Max Mackinnon

I could be convinced that this was Angel's best game ever. WNBA Finals, 30 and 15 game, elite. Dream take game 2 to even the series.

Hats off to the Valkyries, I predicted Atlanta to win this series 4-2 but Golden State are super impressive. My main concern, do they have enough offense to win it all? Or maybe their defense is that good, that it doesn't matter.

Steph Reid from the newest WNBL team the Tasmania Jewels joins me to discuss opening up the new season in a couple of days time, what it's been like being the face of a new franchise and how they aren't shying away from building off the JackJumpers culture.

The WNBA Finals are set. The Atlanta Dream vs the Golden State Valkyries in a really remarkable outcome as the Aces, yes those Las Vegas Aces, get swept and the Dream turn Angel Reese's tweet from a year ago into 2026 reality.

Atlanta Dream’s defensive energy has me thinking they can win the championship and someone has a chance to make history if they come back from 0-2 in their series.

What a confusing game that was. Rakocevic looks like a top 3 big in the league, Adelaide were in shambles until they weren't, Cole Anthony silenced some doubters and I saw one of the best halves I've seen from Luke Travers.