Valkyries HC Natalie Nakase makes her feelings clear about $3 billion-worth owner's championship challenge

Golden State Valkyries coach Natalie Nakase has made her feelings clear about challenges posed by the franchise owner, Joe Lacob, who is worth $3 billion, as per Celebrity Net Worth. Nakase took over the team after being hired as the head coach on Oct. 10, 2024.

Before that, Nakase was an assistant coach to the Las Vegas Aces, whom she led to back-to-back titles in 2022 and 2023. Shortly after she took the reins of the Valkyries, Joe Lacob challenged her to win a title within the next five years.

Nakase has now made her feelings clear on the matter during a conversation with NESN:

“Hearing the word challenge I think it's always good to say hey well at least you get an opportunity like I have an opportunity you know to be in the seat I mean there's probably a million other candidates that are are just as qualified but you know they chose me and so I'm taking on um his challenge but what he did say in my press conference was I have to win in five years." [9:38]

“So I don't know if you guys heard that he said it multiple times he said it in my interview no pressure but instead of pressure it's like, hey that's an opportunity.”

Nakase remained confident about completing Lacob’s challenge and believes the owner will set her up for success:

“I knew I was going to be in good hands because he's going to also just provide me with the resources that we can get there so it wasn't like okay hey here you go like try to win five it's like what do you need so I think that's a completely different situation where like he's actually setting me up for success so instead of feeling the pressure, I'm like no Joe is going to set me up for success.”

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Natalie Nakase mentored under Boston Celtics HC Joe Mazzula this summer

Eager to learn from the best in the business, Valkyries coach Natalie Nakase made full use of her friendship with Sam Cassell in order to learn from Celtics head coach, Joe Mazulla. Nakase revealed that Mazulla was happy to take her under his wing. She shed light on Mazulla’s generosity, saying:

“He was like, ‘What do you want to know? What questions do you have for me?’” Nakase recalled. “I’m like, ‘Are you for real? Like, aren’t you in-season?’ And he was like, ‘I got time.’”

Mazzulla, who can often come off as cold and distanced thanks to his dry humor and candid replies, was more than happy to take Nakase under her wing, primarily because she isn’t an NBA coach. It’ll be interesting to see what kind of impact Mazzulla’s mentorship will have on Natalie Nakase when she leads the Valkyries this season.