{"id":474859,"date":"2026-02-18T00:57:22","date_gmt":"2026-02-18T00:57:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/474859\/"},"modified":"2026-02-18T00:57:22","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T00:57:22","slug":"valkyries-natalie-nakase-named-wnba-coach-of-the-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/474859\/","title":{"rendered":"Valkyries\u2019 Natalie Nakase named WNBA coach of the year"},"content":{"rendered":"

SAN JOSE \u2014 Natalie Nakase\u2019s<\/a> debut season got more special Wednesday afternoon when the Valkyries coach was awarded the WNBA\u2019s Coach of the Year award.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Nakase<\/a>, 45, led Golden State to a 23-21 record in her first season. The Valkyries made history as the league\u2019s first expansion franchise to make the playoffs in its inaugural year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Of the 72 national voters, Nakase earned 53 first-place votes to finish ahead of Atlanta Dream coach Karl Smesko, who received 15. Las Vegas\u2019 Becky Hammon and Minnesota\u2019s Cheryl Reeve each earned two votes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

While Nakase was thankful for the award, she opted to stay in the moment when presented with the award prior to Wednesday\u2019s first-round playoff game against Minnesota.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m being true, like no one really cares,\u201d Nakase said. \u201cI never aim for this type of award, and my dad taught me that early on, that it\u2019s all about winning, and that\u2019s why I took this job.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"GoldenGolden State Valkyries head coach Natalie Nakase gives instructions to her players against the Dallas Wings in the fourth quarter of a WNBA game at Chase Center in San Francisco, Calif., on Thursday, Sept. 4, 2025. (Ray Chavez\/Bay Area News Group)\u00a0<\/p>\n

Under Nakase, the Valkyries had one of the best defenses in the league, leading the league in opponent\u2019s points per game (76.3) and field goal percentage (40.5). Despite having rostered 20 different players this season, Nakase has been able to keep the Valkyries consistent throughout the year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

She was instrumental in helping veteran Kayla Thornton make the All-Star team and in aiding the development of point guard Veronica Burton, who was named the WNBA\u2019s Most Improved Player on Monday.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cNatalie has been a fierce leader from the very moment she was announced as head coach, and this award is an external validation of what we see every day,\u201d Valkyries general manager Ohemaa Nyanin said in a statement. \u201cHer core philosophy of connectivity and emphasis on high character has created an environment where everyone can thrive. Her unique approach to leadership and ability to hold players accountable with care while staying true to her values has been remarkable. Coach Natalie and her coaching staff have been an integral piece of creating this team\u2019s foundation in its inaugural year.\u201d<\/p>\n

For the Valkyries players, Nakase winning coach of the year was the expectation.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we more excited than her, but I would have been surprised that she didn\u2019t get coach of the year,\u201d Valkyries guard Kaila Charles said. \u201cTo be a first-year head coach into a brand new program with brand new players and never played with each other, and for her to bring it all together and also be successful, \u2026 That just says a lot to who she is as a person and as a coach.\u201d<\/p>\n

WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert was at SAP Center Wednesday to present Nakase with the award. She complimented the Valkyries on their historic season and congratulated Nakase for winning the award.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnder her leadership, the team closed the regular season leading into the playoffs with the most wins of any expansion team,\u201d Engelbert said. \u201cWhat Natalie and Ohemaa (Nyanin), (president) Jess (Smith) and their staff has built in less than a year is nothing short of remarkable. So you\u2019ve made this city, your team, our league, incredibly proud.\u201d<\/p>\n

Prior to joining the Valkyries, Nakase was a standout player at UCLA in the early 2000s. She spent 10 years with the Los Angeles Clippers before joining Hammon\u2019s staff in Las Vegas, where she won back-to-back WNBA titles as an assistant in 2022 and 2023.<\/p>\n

When she was hired by Golden State, Nakase made history as the first Asian American head coach in the WNBA\u2019s 29-year history.\u00a0<\/p>\n

When asked her thoughts about being a coach of the year candidate a few weeks ago, Nakase said, \u201cIt should be coaching staff of the year. \u2026 I\u2019m not doing this on my own. So it shouldn\u2019t be coach of the year. It should be coaching staff of the year. It doesn\u2019t really matter. But, like, it\u2019s a credit to my staff.\u201d<\/p>\n

She expanded on her staff prior to Wednesday\u2019s game, saying \u201cLike I said, our players are killers. But I think my staff are killers as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"GoldenGolden State Valkyries head coach Natalie Nakase coaches her players against the Atlanta Dream in the fourth quarter of their WNBA game at Chase Center in San Francisco, Calif., on Sunday, Aug. 17, 2025. The Atlanta Dream defeated the Golden State Valkyries 79-63. (Jose Carlos Fajardo\/Bay Area News Group)\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN JOSE \u2014 Natalie Nakase\u2019s debut season got more special Wednesday afternoon when the Valkyries coach was awarded…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":474860,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[10832,402,3805,2356,10833,1915,4804,10831,3803,14059,2558,5415,36930,10834,10835,5413,10836,3804,10837,5284,10838,10839,10840,10841,10842,5414,10843,99,434],"class_list":{"0":"post-474859","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wnba","8":"tag-alameda-county","9":"tag-basketball","10":"tag-bay-area","11":"tag-california","12":"tag-contra-costa-county","13":"tag-east-bay","14":"tag-golden-state-valkyries","15":"tag-inside-sports","16":"tag-keywee","17":"tag-lake-county","18":"tag-latest-headlines","19":"tag-marin-county","20":"tag-mendocino-county","21":"tag-monterey-county","22":"tag-napa-county","23":"tag-north-bay","24":"tag-peninsula","25":"tag-pm-report","26":"tag-san-benito-county","27":"tag-san-francisco","28":"tag-san-francisco-county","29":"tag-san-mateo-county","30":"tag-santa-clara-county","31":"tag-santa-cruz-county","32":"tag-solano-county","33":"tag-sonoma-county","34":"tag-south-bay","35":"tag-sports","36":"tag-wnba"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/474859","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=474859"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/474859\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/474860"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=474859"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=474859"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=474859"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}