On Thursday, the Golden State Valkyries named the franchise’s first head coach, 44-year old Natalie Nakase.
Nakase arrives from the Las Vegas Aces, where she served for three years as an assistant coach, helping the team win back-to-back championships in 2022 and 2023. The California native who played at UCLA (1998-2003), has accumulated tons of coaching experience through assistant and head coaching gigs in Germany and Japan, in addition to serving as an assistant coach for the NBA G League’s Agua Caliente Clippers (2017-18, 2021-22) and NBA’s Los Angeles Clippers (2018-20).
Ohemaa Nyanin, general manager of the Valkyries, said of the hire:
Natalie is the perfect candidate to lead the Valkyries as our head coach. She exemplifies every character trait in what we were looking for in a head coach and possesses deep expertise across professional basketball. Her journey is representative of the grit and perseverance that our team will embody to achieve our ultimate goal of winning championships.
Before making their head coach hire, the organization revealed the plans for and renderings of the team’s locker room at Chase Center and practice facility in Oakland. Both prove that preparations for their freshman season are in full swing. The Valkyries are going to have…
