On January 30th, 2024, the Golden State WNBA franchise, who didn't yet have a name, hired Jess Smith to be their team president. On May 7, 2024, Ohemaa Nyanin was hired to be the general manager. And today, the now Golden State Valkyries have hired their first head coach, Natalie Nakase.
Here she is, your Golden State Valkyries Head Coach, @NatalieNakase! pic.twitter.com/q0WkXHlorY
— Golden State Valkyries (@wnbagoldenstate) October 10, 2024
Nakase most recently finished her third season on Becky Hammon's staff as an assistant coach with the Las Vegas Aces, becoming the first Asian-American coach to win a WNBA title. She is now the first Asian-American head coach in the WNBA.
Nakase played collegiately at UCLA and professionally in the NWBL and in Germany. She started in the Los Angeles Clippers organization as an intern in 2012 before joining the Aces in 2022.
When asked at the introductory press conference how she was going to balance expectation with the reality of being an expansion team, especially under an owner in Joe Lacob whose goal is to win a WNBA championship within the first five years, Nakase talked about creating a winning culture and said, "Winners attract winners."
Nyanin laid out the hiring process and how Nakase fit what they were looking for, including being purpose driven, and called Nakase, "Extremely driven."
You can watch the full introductory press conference below.
