Expansion Golden State Valkyries’ Natalie Nakase Wins 2025 WNBA Coach Of the Year
Golden State Valkyries Head Coach Natalie Nakase was named the WNBA Coach of the Year on Wednesday. She guided the Valkyries to a 23-21 regular-season record in their inaugural season and the eighth seed in the playoffs. This was the UCLA alum’s first year as a WNBA head coach.
Nakase’s Journey To the WNBA
Nakase was a point guard at UCLA. After she graduated in 2003, she spent a few years in the now-defunct National Women’s Basketball League and playing in Germany. In 2007, she tried out for the Phoenix Mercury, but she did not make the team. She then returned to Germany to play, but she retired as a player after suffering a serious knee injury.
In 2008, Nakase went into coaching, becoming the head coach of the Wolfenbüttel Wildcats in the German Women’s Professional Basketball League. After two years, she moved on to Japan, spending a year as an assistant coach under former NBA Head Coach Bob Hill with the Tokyo Apache. That team folded after the 2010-2011 season, and Nakase got hired as the assistant coach of the Saitama Broncos. Broncos’ Head Coach Dean Murray stepped down mid-season, and Nakase took over as the first female head coach in the Basketball Japan League.
In 2012, Nakase was hired as an intern for the Los Angeles Clippers. She was promoted to an assistant coach for the Clippers’ G-League team in 2017. The next year, she became a player development assistant coach for the Clippers. She stayed with the organization until 2022. That year, Nakase became an assistant coach for the Las Vegas Aces under Becky Hammon. In 2025, Nakase took her first WNBA head coaching job with the expansion Valkyries and beat out Hammon for Coach of the Year honors. If Golden State had won one more regular-season game, they would have faced Hammon’s Aces in the first round of the playoffs.
The Valkyries’ Season
Under Nakase, the Valkyries got off to a rough 2-5 start, but the team came together after that. Golden State’s defense locked in, and by season’s end, it was the best in the league, allowing just 76.3 points per game. Top scorers Kayla Thornton and Veronica Burton both recorded career-high scoring averages. Thornton’s season was unfortunately cut short by injury, but Burton’s nine-point scoring improvement over last season won her the league’s Most Improved Player award.
Golden State lost Game 1 of their opening-round playoff series with the Minnesota Lynx, 101-72. The Valkyries will host Game 2 later tonight at the SAP Center in San Jose. If Golden State can tie the best-of-three series, the teams will square off again in the deciding game on Friday night in Minnesota.
The Voting
Nakase received 53 of 72 first-place votes for the award. Atlanta Dream Head Coach Karl Smesko finished second with 15. Hammon and Minnesota Lynx Coach Cheryl Reeve each received two votes.
