Angel Reese was 'present' at the Valkyries' championship celebration parade with her famous gesture

A ngel Reese may have been nowhere near the Golden State Valkyries ' championship parade, but the Atlanta Dream star still managed to become one of its talking points.

As thousands of supporters gathered in San Francisco on Wednesday, November 4, to celebrate the franchise's first WNBA title, some members of the Valkyries organisation appeared to have a message for the player they had just defeated in the Finals.

Staff members were spotted wearing T-shirts featuring Reese's face edited into the famous crying Michael Jordan meme, alongside the hand gesture she had used earlier in the championship series.

The reference was unmistakable: her familiar “too small” celebration, which had become part of the rivalry between the two teams.

There was another apparent dig at the Dream forward. Images shared by fans showed a pink pacifier accompanied by a small tag featuring the altered Jordan meme and the words “if found return to: ATL.” One supporter claimed the items were being handed out during the festivities.

The jokes were a reminder that the competitive tension between Golden State and Atlanta had not disappeared with the final buzzer.

Instead, the Valkyries appeared happy to revisit some of the moments that had made their championship journey particularly entertaining.

How Angel Reese's gesture came back to haunt her

The origins of the joke can be traced to Game 3 of the WNBA Finals. Atlanta had taken a 2-1 series advantage after defeating Golden State 68-63, with Reese producing an impressive 21-point, 12-rebound performance.

During the game, Reese directed her “too small” gesture towards the Valkyries ' bench following a confrontation with forward Aminata Gueye , who had spent much of the series defending her.

At that stage, the Dream appeared to have the momentum needed to move closer to the championship.

However, the series took a dramatic turn, with Golden State recovering to win the next four games and claim the title in Game 7, 68-63.

Reese did not score more than 15 points in any of those final four contests, while the Valkyries found a way to turn the series around and secure their first championship in only their second season.

The response to Reese's celebration began almost immediately after the decisive victory. Gueye shared an image referencing the hand gesture on Instagram, while teammate Tiffany Hayes also recreated it during a live broadcast of the locker-room celebrations.

The parade provided another opportunity to bring the moment back into the spotlight, this time in front of thousands of supporters.

Reese was not the only person receiving some playful criticism. Valkyries center Kiah Stokes also wore a shirt referencing an ESPN championship-odds graphic published in July.

Golden State had been ranked sixth, behind the Indiana Fever, Las Vegas Aces, Minnesota Lynx, New York Liberty and Atlanta Dream .

The Valkyries had clearly remembered the prediction. ESPN Insights responded to the shirt on X with a joke, writing, “Sorry we were a little late to the party.”

The account also pointed out that Golden State had gone 13-4 after the graphic was published, with its analytics subsequently making the team championship favourites by August 10.

A historic celebration for Golden State

There was plenty beyond the jokes to celebrate. The Valkyries defeated Atlanta in the first Game 7 in WNBA Finals history, completing a remarkable turnaround to become the fastest expansion franchise in major North American professional sports to win a championship since 1967.

Finals MVP Gabby Williams led the celebrations, while Stokes collected her fourth WNBA championship. Golden State also made history by becoming the first WNBA champion without an All-WNBA selection on its roster that season.

The parade travelled along San Francisco's Embarcadero after celebrations began in Oakland, with thousands of fans turning out to welcome the new champions.

For Reese, the occasion served as an unwanted reminder of how quickly the Finals narrative had changed. Her Game 3 gesture had initially been a celebration of Atlanta's advantage, but Golden State 's eventual triumph gave its players and staff the opportunity to turn it into a joke of their own.

The championship parade was therefore more than a victory celebration. It was also a chance for the Valkyries to answer the doubts, predictions and on-court taunts that had followed them throughout their title-winning campaign.