{"id":273310,"date":"2025-11-05T15:58:19","date_gmt":"2025-11-05T15:58:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/273310\/"},"modified":"2025-11-05T15:58:19","modified_gmt":"2025-11-05T15:58:19","slug":"for-valkyries-coach-natalie-nakase-what-a-difference-a-year-makes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/273310\/","title":{"rendered":"For Valkyries coach Natalie Nakase, what a difference a year makes"},"content":{"rendered":"

Want more ways to catch up on the latest in Bay Area sports? Sign up for the Section 415 email newsletter here<\/a> and subscribe to the Section 415 podcast wherever you listen<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Eleven months before the Golden State Valkyries\u2019 inaugural season ended with a playoff berth and Natalie Nakase earned the WNBA\u2019s Coach of the Year award, she received a life-changing phone call. One she wasn\u2019t entirely ready to answer.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had a little bit of anxiety and nervousness. Is this the right thing to do?\u201d said Nakase, who joined Section 415<\/a> to reflect on her first year leading the Valkyries. It wasn\u2019t exactly calming when general manager Ohemaa Nyanin asked to FaceTime, a method of communication Nakase openly despises.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI was still with the Aces and committed to everyone in that whole organization.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the time, Nakase was one of Becky Hammon\u2019s assistants in Las Vegas, and settled into a winning culture with two WNBA championships to show for it. But when Nyanin and Golden State came calling with an offer to become the first head coach of the WNBA franchise, hesitation met the opportunity of Nakase\u2019s dreams.<\/p>\n

Listen toSection 415<\/p>\n

Today<\/p>\n

Section 415: How Natalie Nakase turned the Valkyries into an immediate force <\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

4 days ago<\/p>\n

Section 415: Tim Kawakami analyzes the 49ers, Giants, and Warriors <\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Tuesday, Oct. 28<\/p>\n

Section 415: Min Woo Lee, Steph Curry, and the story of The Bay Golf Club<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

\u201cSo much joy within two seconds because (my family) knew how hard this opportunity was for me to get,\u201d Nakase said. \u201cThis has been a lifelong dream of mine.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

That was a year ago. And what followed was chaos of the best kind.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The front office was a skeleton crew, the Valkyries\u2019 practice facility in Oakland stood unfinished, and the roster: nonexistent.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe wanted to be super intentional and instead of hearing naysayers say that expansion teams aren\u2019t very good, we were like \u2018Let\u2019s call it a new team,\u2019\u201d said Nakase, who rejected the \u201cexpansion\u201d label from the get-go. \u201cLet\u2019s call it our story, how we want to build it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Nakase, Nyanin, and other Valkyries leaders spent two months studying film before December\u2019s expansion draft finally arrived. Even with careful preparation and a clear vision to execute, nervous energy filled the room on the big day.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe didn\u2019t know how people were going to react. Were [the players] going to be happy \u2026 frustrated, upset, or sad that they were leaving a team that they maybe loved being a part of?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Nakase said that Nyanin, and former assistant GM Vanja Cernivec (now the GM of the Portland Fire) huddled around the phone with her to make calls to the team\u2019s new players together.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In May, Nakase faced more uncharted territory: leading her team through training camp. It was a group that had never shared the floor before and had three weeks to be game-ready.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

With so many unknowns, Nakase zeroed in on a focus that simplified the matter \u2014 she was looking for connection. To her, it was the truest measure of competitiveness, cohesion, and chemistry.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been on teams that won, I\u2019ve been on teams that lost, and the ones that connect the best go past expectations,\u201d Nakase said of the early days at training camp. \u201cThen, do they play with joy? The people that could dance and make fun of themselves early on, those players were vital.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The result? A record-setting 23-21 season and a team that adhered to Nakase\u2019s philosophy of improving every day, one percent at a time. She saw her team\u2019s competitive edge and belief early on, but insisted that her players keep their heads down, focused until the end.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI never talked about a record,\u201d Nakase said. \u201cWhich was key because it was irrelevant. We wanted to focus on getting better.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI challenged the (players) on enjoying the unpredictability. We can control our health, our mental, our physical, our game planning, being on the same page. And when you keep things like that simple for a team, I think that allows them to play more clear and free and with joy.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Six weeks after the season ended, Nakase looks back at everything her team accomplished with chills. Her star point guard, Veronica Burton, was named the WNBA\u2019s Most Improved Player, but Nakase saw everyone on her roster, top to bottom, grow. It happened in front of a fan base that swelled throughout the Bay Area and set a new standard around the league. After Golden State\u2019s debut season came to a close with a last-second loss to the Minnesota Lynx at SAP Center, the arena stood still. Fans didn\u2019t file out to their cars, and the team didn\u2019t sulk to the locker room.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"ANatalie Nakase led the Valkyries to the playoffs in her first season on the job. | Source: Eakin Howard\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the most humbling experiences I\u2019ve ever had \u2026 so surreal,\u201d she said, recalling how her players huddled at halfcourt after the final buzzer and the sellout crowd remained at their seats chanting and embracing the team for its unforgettable first season.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cCredit to our fans for giving us that feeling because I told [my players] that they are the only 13 players that really got to feel that every home game.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

In the midst of another offseason, Nakase doesn\u2019t focus on looming unknowns, many of which she proved she could conquer. She just finds joy in the grind.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI love hard, intentional work,\u201d she said. \u201cTen of our players are playing right now overseas, and it\u2019s so cool \u2026 they are playing heavy minutes on their teams and contributing (in EuroLeague).\u201d<\/p>\n

Nakase\u2019s first season was filled with nerves, obstacles, and constant learning, but one paradox defined it. This year was always about winning \u2014 every game, every possession \u2014 and yet, somehow, never just about the wins.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery single player improved in our system and we have evidence to validate that point.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Want more ways to catch up on the latest in Bay Area sports? Sign up for the Section…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":273311,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[4804,99,434],"class_list":{"0":"post-273310","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wnba","8":"tag-golden-state-valkyries","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-wnba"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273310","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=273310"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273310\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/273311"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=273310"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=273310"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=273310"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}