A coach shaped by her circuitous basketball journey was uniquely suited to building the trust that made Golden State champions just 534 days after their first game
The mighty, miserly Golden State Valkyries won their first WNBA title on Saturday night with a point guard Dallas had given up on and cast aside, a starting forward who had been waived five times and a late-blooming All-Star once passed over by every team in the league. That made them a fitting match for their coach. Natalie Nakase has pieced together a basketball life on making small openings count, turning a walk-on place at UCLA into a scholarship and an unsolicited scouting report into a coaching job in Japan’s top men’s league.
The Valkyries’ nerve-shredding 68-63 fightback over the Atlanta Dream in Game 7 did more than make them the fastest expansion team in major North American professional sports history to win a championship – as 45-1 preseason longshots in their second season of existence. It was proof of concept for an organization that gave overlooked players the resources, responsibility and trust to become champions – and enlisted a leader whose own circuitous journey had taught her what those things could unlock.
