Natalie Nakase was hired as Golden State Valkyries HC prior to the inaugural WNBA season | News, results, highlights, statistics and rumors

Natalie Nakase was named head coach of the Golden State Valkyries ahead of the team's first WNBA season.

Previously, Nakase served as an assistant coach for the Los Angeles Clippers of the NBA, the Agua Caliente Clippers of the NBA G League and the Las Vegas Aces of the WNBA.

The Valkyries, the first WNBA expansion franchise since 2008, are expected to join the league for the 2025 season.

Nakase, a former UCLA point guard and the first Asian American player to compete in the National Women's Basketball League, began her coaching career in Germany and Japan.

After first joining the Clippers staff in 2012, Nakase was named the team's player development/assistant coach under Doc Rivers in 2018.

After two seasons as an assistant with the Clippers and one season with their development partner, Nakase moved to the WNBA as Becky Hammon's first assistant coach, where she helped lead the Aces to back-to-back titles in 2022 and 2023.

With the Aces, Nakase was involved in decisions including “in-game adjustments, substitution rotations, end-of-game decisions, time-out strategies, head coach challenges, time management and team organization at both ends of the pitch,” according to the Valkyries.

Nakase called her first job as a WNBA head coach “a lifelong dream come true.”

“We are committed to building a winning culture of grit, hard work and competitiveness,” Nakase said in a statement. “We will strive to improve, compete and ultimately bring home a championship for our fans and this organization.”

Nakase doesn't yet know what her team will look like next season, as the Valkyries will have to wait until December 6 to assemble their roster in the upcoming expansion draft.

Each of the dozen existing WNBA teams will be able to protect six players, after which Golden State can select one unprotected player from each team.

Golden State will also have the opportunity to select a player in the 2025 WNBA Draft next April, but their draft position has not yet been announced.

The team previously announced in May the hiring of Ohemaa Nyanin, the general manager who will lead the team through expansion and the college draft. Previously, Nyanin was deputy general manager of the New York Liberty.

The Valkyries are the WNBA affiliate of the NBA's Golden State Warriors. The league's 13th team will celebrate its inaugural season next spring at the Chase Center in San Francisco.