Few could have foreseen how quickly the Golden State Valkyries would rise as an expansion franchise, making waves through their soaring valuation, record-setting attendance, ticket demand, and on-court success — which has now propelled them to the WNBA Finals in just their second season. However, there is a reason WNBA legend Sue Bird is known for having a comprehensive perspective (it makes sense that her podcast is named Bird’s Eye View). And the Team USA Managing Director who helped choose Nakase as an assistant coach for the 2026 FIBA Women’s World Cup has now revealed the hunger that drives the 46-year-old to accept nothing less than the best.

“She’s obsessed … She loves basketball. She’s obsessed with doing a good job … She’s so passionate about being a coach … and wanting this team to be successful,” Bird said about Nakase during an NBC Sports Group press conference on Wednesday.

“Nothing was going to be enough until they won a championship, and that’s how she approaches every day,” Bird added. “That’s how, even with USA Basketball, albeit a different role, that presence was there.

Her observation has much merit.

With 23 wins in the last regular season, the Valkyries shocked the world by becoming the first expansion side in history to qualify for the playoffs in their inaugural season, albeit as the eighth and final seed to do so.

While the Valkyries were unfortunately bested by the top-seeded Minnesota Lynx 2-0 in the first round of the playoffs, Natalie Nakase’s efforts were not overshadowed by this loss. The 46-year-old went on to win the 2025 WNBA Coach of the Year award, receiving 53 of 72 votes from a national panel of sportswriters and broadcasters.

“It’s a huge honor. You know, obviously representation for me matters, especially when I sit in this seat more and more, and I get to see the fans and I get to meet little girls that look like me, and they come up to me and they say, I inspire them, which I would never have thought,” Nakase, who became the first Asian-American coach in WNBA history, reflected on her milestone.

Nakase laid the foundation in 2025, and the Valkyries then strengthened their roster ahead of the 2026 season with the additions of French international Gabby Williams and veteran center Kiah Stokes, while also returning a league-high nine players. They then built on their inaugural-season success with a 32-win campaign and a place in the WNBA Finals. And in a team with no clear-cut star, teamwork was in the spotlight, and that reflected on the stat sheets, as the team set a WNBA record for bench scoring.

Natalie Nakase made defense one of her team’s key attributes. And her players did not let her down, ranking No. 1 in the regular season with a 99.3 defensive rating. This was further highlighted when the Valkyries took on the Aces in the semis.

The Aces, a team that finished second in offensive rating at 113.7, per StatMuse, recorded an offensive rating of 96.7 against the Valkyries in the 2026 Semifinals. Following her defeat, even Becky Hammon couldn’t help but tip her hat to her former assistant coach.

“They really play great team ball. On any given night any of them can have 15, 20 on you because they share the ball, and it seems—I don’t know her team that well, but it just seems like nobody cares who gets the credit, and that’s a really special thing to have on a team, and I think Golden State has that,” Hammon said about Nakase’s Valkyries, per a video on the Aces’ YouTube channel.

That said, Nakase’s obsession with basketball can be traced back to her days as a video-coordinator intern with the Los Angeles Clippers, where she began building her own coaching playbook, studying after-timeout plays, sideline out-of-bounds situations, and her preferred offensive sets.

“I think preparation obviously beats anything for an opportunity. I’ve been preparing,” she said, describing a philosophy that would follow her into her first head-coaching job with the Valkyries.

When general manager Ohemaa Nyanin was preparing for the expansion draft, Nakase made her eagerness to get involved clear from day one. On the day of her introductory press conference, she arrived at the Valkyries’ Oakland office and asked Nyanin to walk her through the work already completed, prompting the GM to describe her as “100% focused on every bit of the process.” She also made her expectations clear: a “ridiculous work ethic,” an ultra-competitive mindset, and players who never settle for less than improvement.

That “obsession,” as Bird described it, often leaves her struggling to switch off even when the workday is over. Assistant coach Kasib Powell told the San Francisco Chronicle that she sends him text messages with questions, answers, and stray basketball thoughts during the middle of the night and on days off. Powell added that her constant focus rubs off on those around her, making them want to work just as hard so they do not let her down.

And Nakase knows about it all. She has acknowledged that her mind keeps racing when she tries to sleep, with Warriors coach Steve Kerr advising her to write down thoughts that come to her at night.

During the Valkyries’ 2026 playoff run, that relentless intensity became impossible to ignore when she briefly collapsed on the sideline during Game 3 against the Dallas Wings, an episode she later attributed partly to exhaustion. She quickly got back up, drew up a play, and continued coaching Golden State to a series-clinching victory.

The incident, though, served as a wake-up call: remembering her late father Gary’s warning not to let her career compromise her health, Nakase said she wanted to become more proactive about protecting her physical and mental well-being.

She loves coaching, she acknowledged, sometimes to the point of overworking herself, and is learning to manage that intensity more carefully.

Now, the only hurdle for Nakase and the Valkyries to overcome before lifting the WNBA championship is Karl Smesko’s Atlanta Dream. Smesko finished second to Nakase in the 2025 Coach of the Year voting. Now, he has the opportunity to lead Atlanta to its first WNBA championship.

The Valkyries have won all three of their regular-season matchups against the Dream. But as we know, the playoffs are a different beast, and anything can happen. October 17 cannot come sooner, as it will be exciting to see which franchise wins its first WNBA championship.