Natalie Nakase

Natalie Mitsue Nakase ( nə-KAH-say; born April 18, 1980) is an American professional basketball coach and former player who is the head coach of the Golden State Valkyries of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). After retiring as a player, she was a head coach for both men's and women's professional teams. Nakase was later an assistant coach for the Los Angeles Clippers in the National Basketball Association (NBA). She then won two WNBA championships as an assistant coach for the Las Vegas Aces in 2022 and 2023, and one as a head coach for the Golden State Valkyries in 2026. In 2025, she was named the WNBA Coach of the Year in her first season with the Valkyries.

Nakase grew up in Orange County, California, where she was honored as the county's high school player of the year. She played college basketball for the UCLA Bruins, receiving honorable mention as an all-conference player in the Pacific-10 in 2002. A third-generation Japanese American, she became the first Asian American to play in the National Women's Basketball League (NWBL). She also played in Germany before suffering a knee injury and retiring as a player.

Nakase went into coaching, and served as a head coach of a women's team in Germany before becoming the first female head coach in Japan's top pro men's league. Nakase returned to the United States, joining the Clippers of the NBA as a video intern in 2012. She became an assistant coach to their NBA G League development team, Agua Caliente, in 2017. She became an NBA assistant for the Clippers in 2018 and joined the WNBA's Aces in 2022, when she became the first Asian American coach to win a WNBA title.

Nakase was hired as the first head coach for the WNBA expansion franchise Golden State Valkyries in October 2024, making her the first Asian-American head coach in league history. She led the Valkyries to a WNBA championship in their second season of existence, becoming the fastest team in North American history to win a championship since 1967.