Being a first-time head coach is no easy job, especially not with tons of eyes on you and your team. Valkyries head coach Natalie Nakase has risen to the challenge early this season, leading her team to two big wins over the Washington Mystics and Los Angeles Sparks.
While the Valkyries’ win streak may be short-lived—their next five games are against the New York Liberty, Minnesota Lynx, Phoenix Mercury, and Las Vegas Aces—Nakase already put her name into the Coach of the Year conversation with the way she got her team ready to compete early in the season.
Natalie Nakase has the Valkyries competing early
Natalie Nakase took a new team, a roster without a clear star and several young, inexperienced players, and gave it an identity. The Valkyries still have work to do offensively, but their defense has been strong to start the season. So has the team’s chemistry. That has given the Valkyries a distinctive identity as a scrappy, competitive, and selfless team that empowers players to step up whenever they have a chance.
The team’s identity was particularly obvious in the Valkyries’ win over the Sparks. Veterans Tiffany Hayes, Monique Billings, and Cecilia Zandalasini were all out, but the team came together and won the game anyway behind big efforts from Carla Leite, Janelle Salaün, Kayla Thornton, and Veronica Burton. After the game, Thornton praised French rookie Carla Leite for her performance and gave Valkyries’ fans a glimpse of the environment the team built—an environment that will allow the team’s young players to thrive.
Building all of this in such a short amount of time is a major accomplishment and only speaks to Nakase’s potential as a coach. If she can continue to lead the Valkyries to success and have her team play cohesive, competitive basketball, Nakase may take home some hardware at the end of the season. She could, in one season, become the first Asian American head coach in the league and the first Asian American coach to be named Coach of the Year.
Nakase will have plenty of competition
The WNBA is filled with great coaches. Cheryl Reeve won the award last season and will certainly make a strong case to repeat, considering how well the Lynx are playing at the moment. Stephanie White with the Indiana Fever was the favorite to win Coach of the Year before the start of the season and has a solid chance. So do new Atlanta Dream head coach Karl Smesko and Sydney Johnson, who took over with the Washington Mystics before the season.