The first Asian American head coach in WNBA history and the 2025 WNBA Coach of the Year, Natalie Nakase led the Golden State Valkyries to 23 regular season wins during their inaugural campaign, a WNBA single-season record by an expansion team. Under her leadership, the Valkyries also became the first-ever expansion franchise to reach the playoffs in their inaugural season.

Nakase joined the Valkyries following over 16 years of coaching professional basketball, including three seasons as first assistant coach with the Las Vegas Aces where she played a critical role guiding the team to back-to-back WNBA Championships (2022, 2023).

Prior to her time with the Aces, Nakase spent 10 seasons in various capacities with the Los Angeles Clippers, most recently as an assistant coach and player development coach in a dual role with the NBA team and their G League affiliate, the Agua Caliente Clippers.
Nakase got her coaching start in 2008 with the Women’s Professional Basketball German League, serving as head coach for the Wolfenbuttel Wildcats for two seasons (2008-10). She then served as an assistant coach for the Tokyo Apache for one season (2010-11) in the Men’s Professional Basketball Japan League, followed by acting as head coach for the Saitama Broncos from 2011-12, making her the first woman to serve as head coach in the league.

Nakase was a walk-on women’s basketball player at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) from 1998-2003, where she played her way into the starting lineup and served as team captain for three seasons. A native of Los Angeles, she graduated with her bachelor of science in psychology. After graduation, she played professionally for two years in the National Women’s Basketball League (NWBL) with the San Jose Spiders and San Diego Siege.