Natalie Nakase won WNBA Coach of the Year in 2025, her very first season leading the Golden State Valkyries. Think about that for a second. Now, it looks like she is absolutely locked in to defend that award in 2026, and the entire league better sit up and take notice. The Valkyries aren’t just kinda sorta heading to the playoffs, they are barreling toward a legitimate WNBA Finals run, making them the real deal in only their second season of existence. Can you believe the speed of this turnaround?
Golden State’s Defense is Shutting Down the WNBA
Seriously, this team is straight-up impressive, cementing their place as “the best of the rest” right behind the seemingly unstoppable Minnesota Lynx. We recently saw them put the clamps on none other than Paige Bueckers and the slumping Dallas Wings on Monday, grinding out a tough 78-70 win at Chase Center. What really jumps out is that even when Golden State wasn’t “quite at its best,” their league-leading No.1 defense absolutely smothered Dallas, holding them to a paltry nine points in the entire second quarter! That’s just an insane level of defensive intensity. Their 15-4 home record at Chase Center is the undisputed best in the entire WNBA, which tells you everything you need to know about trying to play them on their home turf. The Valkyries are currently rocking a 25-9 overall record, only three games back from the Lynx for that crucial top overall playoff seed. They are truly showing up big, game after game.
Nakase’s Masterclass: Building a Contender, Again
And get this: Nakase has pulled off this incredible feat with basically the same core squad as their 2025 expansion team. The only big-name shake-up? The marquee addition of Gabby Williams. This isn’t just some lucky break or one-off success; the Valkyries are only the *fourth franchise EVER* to make the playoffs in their first two seasons. The legendary Houston Comets, Charlotte Sting, and Phoenix Mercury were the only others to do it, way back in ’97 and ’98. That’s some elite company right there. Nakase, who honed her craft as an assistant for Becky Hammon in Las Vegas, has masterminded the league’s top scoring defense and its most efficient defense. Seriously, she’s unlocking something truly special in these players. On top of that, we’ve seen huge internal improvements from key players like Veronica Burton, Janelle Salaun, and Kaitlyn Chen, making this squad even deeper and way more dangerous than last fall when their maiden playoff run got cut short by Minnesota.
Even though they actually play at the league’s slowest offensive pace, these Valkyries look absolutely primed to take that next massive step this time around. Here’s the kicker, folks: no team since 1998 has ever managed to claim the WNBA title in their first two seasons in the league. But with the kind of suffocating defense they bring every single night, and Nakase’s straight-up inspired coaching that’s clearly getting the absolute best out of her roster, you really gotta wonder if they are the team to finally break that long-standing streak. Get ready, WNBA. This Golden State squad is coming for it all, and it’s going to be wild.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by The Sporting News.
Leave a Reply