Natalie Nakase Named 2025 WNBA Coach of the Year

Golden State Valkyries coach Natalie Nakase has won the 2025 WNBA Coach of the Year award, the league announced Wednesday.

Nakase received 53 of the 72 votes. Atlanta Dream coach Karl Smesko garnered 15 votes, while the Las Vegas Aces’ Becky Hammon and Minnesota Lynx’s Cheryl Reeve each got two.

Natalie Nakase Led Valkyries To Playoffs

Nakase won the award after Golden State became the first expansion team to make the playoffs in its inaugural season. The first-year coach led the Valkyries to a 23-21 record — more than five times the number of games the last WNBA expansion team won in 2008 (Dream went 4-30).

“I never aimed for this type of award, and my dad taught me that early on, that it’s all about winning,” Nakase said before Golden State’s 75-74 series-ending loss to the top-seeded Lynx.

“And that’s why I took this job because [Valkyries owner] Joe [Lacob] was like, ‘If you take this job we’ve got to win a championship in five years.’ That’s the goal, so I just wanted to start with that. But what this does is it reflects on [our] whole organization. It starts at the top.”

Nakase was hired by Lacob and the Valkyries in October 2024 after she spent the past three seasons as an assistant coach under Hammon with the Aces.

Joe Lacob Wanted Winning Culture For WNBA Expansion Team

According to ESPN’s Kendra Andrews, Nakase went through an extensive interview process, but she was finally offered the job after meeting Lacob in a Las Vegas hotel during the NBA summer league.

“At first, I was obviously nervous,” Nakase said. “The winning culture … everything that he does, he sets a goal for himself, he accomplishes it. … I was so inspired by having an interview with him.”

Lacob, who also owns the Golden State Warriors, had sought to bring the WNBA a winning organization in the Bay Area as soon as possible and within half a decade.

“Whoever gets this job, you have to win in five years. That’s the requirement,” Nakase recalled Lacob saying. “When you doubt me or put a good challenge in front of me, I’m going to go after it 100 percent. … That’s when I knew I really want to work for this guy because he has high standards.”

The Valkyries did nothing more than exceed Lacob’s expectations this season.

Nearly all of Nakase’s players finished the season averaging career highs, including Most Improved Player winner Veronica Burton. Kayla Thornton was also in the running for that award before a season-ending injury in July.