Kiah Stokes roasts ESPN with one shirt at the championship parade

Kiah Stokes mocked ESPN with a T-shirt at the Golden State Valkyries championship parade on Wednesday.

The Valkyries center wore a shirt printed with a screenshot of ESPN's WNBA Basketball Power Index from mid-season.

The graphic showed the top five teams most likely to win the title — and left Golden State off entirely.

Stokes, 33, was the defensive backbone of the Valkyries during their historic run to the 2026 WNBA Championship.

She set a new WNBA Finals record with 19 total blocks over the seven-game series against the Atlanta Dream.

In Game 7, a 68-63 victory at Chase Center on Oct. 31, Stokes hauled in a team-high 13 rebounds.

The win secured the start-up franchise's first national title in just its second year of existence.

The Valkyries finished the regular season with a 32-12 record under second-year head coach Natalie Nakase.

But the team was not taken seriously as title contenders until around August.

ESPN's BPI leaderboard on July 26 ranked the Valkyries 6th, despite Golden State holding a 19-8 record at the time.

The graphic that Stokes wore listed the Indiana Fever at 24%, Las Vegas Aces at 23%, Minnesota Lynx at 16%, New York Liberty at 15%, and Atlanta Dream at 13%.

Golden State was not shown.

Stokes made sure the network did not forget.

At the franchise's championship celebration on Wednesday, she was spotted wearing the T-shirt with the screenshot on the front.

The stunt went viral.

It prompted a good-natured public mea culpa from the ESPN Analytics official account on X.

ESPN quote-tweeted a photo of Stokes at the parade alongside an updated WNBA BPI table showing the Valkyries at the top.

"How's this look, @kstokes41?" ESPN wrote.

"Golden State was 6th on the leaderboard when we posted it on July 26, but went 13-4 from there! ESPN Analytics had the Valkyries as title favorites by August 10. Sorry we were a little late to the party."

Stokes was not satisfied with the apology.

She pointed out that the Valkyries were much higher in the actual standings at the time.

"We were actually 2nd in the standings at the time, so do with that what you want," she replied.

The exchange suggested Stokes is in no mood to forget ESPN's actions any time soon.

Stokes won her fourth championship in five seasons.

She won titles with the Las Vegas Aces in 2022, 2023, and 2025 before signing with Golden State on April 13.

She followed Valkyries coach Natalie Nakase from Las Vegas to the Bay Area.

Nakase spent three seasons as an Aces assistant while Stokes played there.

Candace Parker and Aliyah Boston discussed Stokes' series on Episode 54 of Post Moves.

"Been a champion," Parker said.

"Still is a champion. Won a championship last year. She was like, oh, I'm with Vegas. I'm going to go to the Bay. I'm going to go to Golden State and win another one. Championship followed her."

"And Kiah anchoring the defense the entire series," Parker continued.

"19 blocks in the WNBA Finals. Her fourth championship in five years. So she's had five offseasons. Four of those have ended in a championship. Let's put that in perspective."

Stokes broke a Finals series record previously shared by Sylvia Fowles and Brittney Griner.

Fowles and Griner had shared the record of 12 blocks.

Stokes passed it in Game 4, a 67-62 win at State Farm Arena that gave her 14 blocks.

She had three more in Game 5.

Through five games of the series, she had 17 blocks.

By Game 4, Stokes had reached three blocks seven times in a single postseason, more than any player in WNBA history.

Her six straight games with three or more blocks tied a WNBA record set by Lisa Leslie in 2003.

The Valkyries set a league record with 37 blocks in a single series.

Game 5 went beyond the blocks.

Stokes made 3 of 4 attempts from 3-point range and finished with 13 points, eight rebounds, and three blocks in a 64-55 win.

"I will say, though, in game five, when she hit those threes, that changed the entire thing for them," Boston said.

"She was sniping. Now you're actually getting contests. Giving your team different people to be able to get second chance points because you're bringing the bigs out."

Angel Reese scored seven points on 2-of-8 shooting with Stokes guarding her in Game 5.

Nakase called Stokes the Valkyries' most valuable player after the game.

The Chase Center crowd chanted "MVP."

Stokes joined the Valkyries as a free agent after the Aces won the 2025 title.

The Valkyries were an expansion team that debuted in 2025.

They missed the playoffs in their first season.

In their second season, they won the championship.

The WNBA Finals were a best-of-seven series for the first time in league history.

ESPN's Basketball Power Index is a metric that uses team performance data to project future outcomes.

The BPI is updated regularly throughout the season.

Critics of the metric note that it can lag behind actual standings, especially for teams that improve rapidly.

Golden State's 13-4 finish after July 26 proved the model had underestimated the Valkyries.

Stokes' T-shirt became an instant symbol of that miscalculation.

The image circulated widely on social media.

Fans and analysts praised Stokes for the move.

Some called it the best championship parade moment of the year.

Others noted that the shirt was more effective than any speech.

ESPN's apology, while lighthearted, acknowledged the network was late to recognize the Valkyries.

Stokes' response made clear she had not forgotten the snub.

The Valkyries' championship parade drew thousands of fans to the streets of San Francisco.

The team celebrated at Chase Center before the parade.

Stokes was one of several players who spoke at the rally.

She used the moment to thank the fans and the organization.

She also made sure the ESPN graphic was visible throughout the event.

The Valkyries are now the fastest expansion team in WNBA history to win a title.

The previous record was held by the Seattle Storm, who won in their third season.