DALLAS – When the WNBA takes a break in September, Valkyries coach Natalie Nakase won’t get any time off. She’ll be in Germany working as an assistant coach with the U.S. national team and some of the best players in the world.

One player Nakase is excited to work with is someone her team was prepared to face on Friday night – Dallas star guard Paige Bueckers.

“She has such passion for the game,” Nakase said Friday. “My first conversation (with her) we talked about how much she watches basketball, how much she does in terms of off-season preparation, she works with a close friend of mine, Irv (Roland), an NBA trainer. She just wants all the details on how to grow her game.”

Bueckers entered play Friday seventh in the WNBA in scoring at 20.1 points per game and seventh in assists per game at 5.9.

Nakase was a part of the coaching staff that evaluated national team camps at Duke in December and in Phoenix in April during the NCAA Final Four. The group competed in a women’s World Cup qualifying tournament in March, where the team went 5-0. Eight players, including Bueckers, will be a part of the roster heading to Berlin.

The World Cup will take place from Sept. 4-13. WNBA competition will pause for the duration of the tournament, as it did in 2024 for the Olympics in Paris.

The USA team has four 24-year-olds, including Bueckers, with seven players under the age of 30 while Las Vegas guard Chelsea Gray, who worked with Nakase in Las Vegas, is the oldest at 33.

Bueckers was the 2025 WNBA Rookie of the Year after leading UConn to a national title. In her five games against the Valkyries in her career heading into Friday’s game, she has averaged 17.6 points, 6.2 assists and 2.8 steals.

“The first time I guarded her at USA, I’m like, ‘Oh wow, her footwork is insane,’ and her passion and hunger to want to be the best, I saw that right away with her,” Nakase said. “She’s really special. She’s obviously impacting Dallas in a huge (way) and then not only Dallas, but just the whole world, she’s impacted.”

Nakase will be joined by Phoenix head coach Nate Tibbetts and Indiana’s Stephanie White.

Wings coach Jose Fernandez will serve as a scout coach on Duke head coach Kara Lawson’s U.S. staff.

Team USA has won the last four World Cups after beating China in the final in 2022, 83-61, in Sydney, Australia.

The Valkyries’ Janelle Salaun and Gabby Williams were both named to France’s national team on Friday. Italy has yet to name its official roster, but Golden State’s Cecilia Zandalasini is expected to be a centerpiece for a team making its first global appearance since the 1996 Olympics.

GM COMFORTABLE WITH TEAM AFTER DEADLINE

After a quiet trade deadline, Valkyries general manager Ohemaa Nyanin expressed to the Bay Area News Group this week that she was happy with the direction the team was headed, but believes it can get to another level with the group in place.

“You never really know how it’s all gonna come together, especially with the integration of Gabby Williams and Kiah Stokes, more specifically,” Nyanin said. “I think where we’re at is good. Internally we know we haven’t peaked yet, and so really excited to see if and when that happens, what that looks like.”

Golden State (21-9 before play Friday) is projected to host a home playoff game, barring a late-season collapse. It’s better than where most projected the Valkyries to be, but they still lack a distinct scoring and inside presence.

The Valkyries were in some talks during the deadline for Kelsey Plum, according to league sources, but ultimately decided the price was too much with what they’ve already established.

Nyanin also indicated she didn’t want to make a short-sighted move just for this year’s campaign without factoring in the years to come.

“In not making a decision, it was a decision to continue to make sure that the connectivity and the continuity of this group continued to shine,” she said. “I really wanted to make sure that should I have made a decision, it would have been the right decision for our team in this moment that could have helped us for the future as well, and not just for this season.”

On Friday, Zandalasini expressed appreciation that the front office went all in on the current group.

“It feels good,” she said. “It’s been great what we’ve done in the last year and this season, I’m glad they want to keep building this.”