The Las Vegas Aces suffered two tough blows in the past few days. Their 2024 season ended on Sunday in a 76-62 loss to the Liberty, and on Thursday, the Golden State Valkyries announced Natalie Nakase as their first head coach. Nakase spent the past three seasons in Vegas on Becky Hammon’s staff.

Nakase is a Los Angeles native, so she’s returning to her home state. She was a walk-on at UCLA, where she served as captain for three seasons. Nakase played in the NWBL for the San Jose Spiders and San Diego Siege.

After retiring from basketball, she coached overseas before returning to California to join the Clippers. Nakase climbed up the ladder to become an assistant coach under Doc Rivers, the role she held before she left for the Aces. She leaves Vegas with two championships and hopes to eventually win her first as head coach with the Valkyries.

Nakase is an excellent hire for Golden State. In less than two months, the WNBA will hold the expansion draft for the Valkyries on Dec. 6. Each team can protect six of their players. If it’s not bad enough that the Aces lost Nakase’s leadership, they could lose one of their young players to Golden State in the draft.