Natalie Nakase is 1st Asian American WNBA head coach and unfazed by being the face of the Valkyries

SAN FRANCISCO — The WNBA preseason is underway, and Golden State Valkyries fans will get the chance to see the team play for the first time Tuesday night at home against the LA Sparks.

Monday morning, the team unveiled its new court at Chase Center. The arena was transformed from the Golden State Warriors’ home court to the Valkyries with everything purple.

The San Francisco Bay Area’s first WNBA team is led by Natalie Nakase, who got to where she is by learning to block out those who underestimated her.

“If I hear one negative thing about my goal, about my dream, it’s out, we’re done,” Nakase told The Associated Press. “It made my circle really small, but it’s made my circle really powerful and encouraging and supportive for me.”

That focus and grit is what led to Nakase, 45, to going from being a walk-on at UCLA to team captain as a 5-foot-2 freshman in 1998. It’s what made her the first Asian American player to join the now-defunct National Women’s Basketball League in 2003.

Nakase is blazing a trail again as the WNBA’s first Asian American head coach. That distinction adds to an already impressive rise to be the leader of the Golden State Valkyries, the league’s first expansion franchise since 2008. Their inaugural roster also happens to include championship-winning UConn guard Kaitlyn Chen, who last month became the first Taiwanese American drafted.

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Nakase leading with ‘tough love’

It’s clear Nakase, who is of Japanese ancestry, isn’t rattled ascending to a larger spotlight.

The Golden State Warriors organization, of which the Valkyries are a part of, has prepared her for being more public and “preparation builds confidence,” she said. Coaching is something Nakase expressed interest in as far back as 20 years when she was on the San Jose Spiders.

For people who may not see Asian American women as leaders, Nakase hopes her new role will change minds.

“I think it’s more like what’s in your mind rather than like the exterior part of it,” said Nakase, who at UCLA was often mistaken for a gymnast or tennis player. “The negative opinions fuel my fire, though.”

Nakase’s leadership style is one of “tough love.” It’s an approach she learned from her father. Compliments were not something given in her family. But candor was.

Her father “not only (held) me accountable but, he set higher and higher standards because I think if you believe in yourself – in this – then I want to push you to this,” Nakase said. “If your expectations are here, I want to push you even higher.”

That’s not to say she won’t be there for players off the court.

Nakase said her “responsibility is to be with them every single day, every single moment, check in, ‘Are we good today?'”

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Expansion and diversity in the WNBA

Nakase will be one of four head coaches of color in the WNBA this season.

The other three are Black, but that number is down from six in 2022. Within that subset, Seattle Storm coach Noelle Quinn is the only other female. In 2022, Latricia Trammell became the first Native American or Alaska Native head coach. The Dallas Wings, however, fired her after two seasons.

Only one-fourth of the head coaches in the league are Black, which is a sharp contrast to the fact that roughly 64% of WNBA players are Black or African American, according to a 2023 report from The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport. Hispanic/Latina and Asian players each account for 1.4%. Those who identify as mixed race amount to nearly 11%.

The WNBA is on track to expand to 16 teams by 2028. Toronto – the first outside the U.S. – and Portland, Oregon, will have franchises next year.

This is all happening as women’s sports at college and professional levels have seen a popularity surge in the last few years. Nakase was a Los Angeles Clippers assistant coach for 10 years before she joined the WNBA’s Las Vegas Aces in a similar role. In 2023, after the Aces won back-to-back championships, Nakase noticed a shift in interest.

She believes the opportunity to be part of the movement happening in women’s sports as the coach of the Valkyries couldn’t have come at a better time.

“I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be, especially going from the NBA, experiencing everything on a day-to-day on what it looks like, what they get and now coming here,” Nakase said.

Nakase is inspiring other Asian Americans

Nakase’s presence has electrified Bay Area Asian Americans, who already were stoked to have a hometown WNBA team to support.

Teresa and Nathan Chan, who are Chinese American, had bought Valkyries season tickets for themselves and their daughters Adelaide, 16, and Ashlyn, 15. Both girls play for the San Jose Zebras, one of several Asian American youth teams around the Bay Area.

Adelaide said she was “freaking out” when she found out an Asian American woman would be taking a lead in Dub Nation. She sees parallels with Nakase, who also grew up playing in an Asian American league.

“I thought that was just so cool and it felt more so like she was part of our community already,” Adelaide said.

Both Nakase and Chen’s presence have intensified Ashlyn’s interest.

“I didn’t really watch the WNBA like that much before,” Ashlyn said, “but now that I see a lot of Asian representation … I’m more like, ‘Oh, this is my team now.'”

Teresa Chan, whose father founded a local basketball club over 30 years ago, said it’s “the most wonderful thing that we could ever ask for. I think also it challenges the stereotypes and expands their views of what’s possible.”

It’s “a symbol to all girls and boys alike in the Asian community,” Nathan Chan added.

Nakase embraces what she feels is a responsibility and thinks about how to use her new platform to encourage more girls on a daily basis.

“What I feel like I’m going to connect more to also is more coaches,” Nakase said. “Because I think that, like I said, the impact of coaches is going to be the reason why other females – younger kids that look like me – that they’re going to be inspired.”

ABC7 News contributed to this story.