The Golden State Valkyries had a historic first season in the WNBA, in part thanks to head coach Natalie Nakase.
Nakase, who formerly coached for the Los Angeles Clippers and the Las Vegas Aces, won WNBA Coach of the Year in her first-ever season as a head coach. This also makes her the first-ever head coach of an expansion team to win Coach of the Year in the team’s first season. Nakase coached the Valkyries to a 23-21 record, which is quite impressive for an inaugural season.
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The Valkyries also have another first under their belt — the first WNBA expansion team to make the playoffs in its inaugural season. Though they lost to the Minnesota Lynx in the first round of the playoffs, the Valkyries finished their inaugural season as the 8th seed in the WNBA, bringing honor to Ballhalla for hopefully the first time of many.
Nakase wasn’t the only Valkyrie to take home an end-of-season award — 4th-year guard Veronica Burton took home the Most Improved Player Award at the end of the season.
Clearly, it’s all skyward from here for the Valkyries, and Natalie Nakase is the perfect coach to lead them.
