Natalie Nakase Showed Up in Jordans & Left With a Franchise Win

Natalie Nakase is not just the face of the Golden State Valkyries—she is the culture.

Let the record show: it only took two games.

Two games for Coach Natalie Nakase to stomp out nearly 20 years of sports franchise expansion team struggles, slam the door on the doubters, and drag a brand-new franchise into the win column. Against a team that had every reason to beat them.

The Golden State Valkyries didn’t wait their turn.

They broke in the back door. And their coach? She showed up in Jordans.

Slim Dropped 30. Washington Still Lost. Welcome to Valhalla.

In a gritty 76–74 win over the previously undefeated Washington Mystics, the Valkyries made their arrival official. The Mystics, fresh off of wins from a great Atlanta Dream team and a rebuilding Connecticut Sun squad, were expected to win this game.

The Mystics, mind you, have a lot on their roster. They had size. Continuity. They had Shakira Austin and Brittney Sykes. Slim dropped 30. She hit jumpers, attacked the rim, and dared defenders to slow her down.

“I don’t have enough good things to say about Slim. She’s an amazing player, and amazing leader…she’s just relentless…she has it all. To see her play like that it’s encouraging, she’s just an amazing player” said Sonia Citron.

Washington also had two of the best rookies in the game in Sonia Citron, and Kiki Iriafen.

They still lost.

“She shot 19 shots, so that means, that the other players are not shooting it…I like our zone, maybe should’ve got out of it but I was stubborn..my coaching staff was like “Get out of the zone!!” Team effort…no one else was able to get into a rhythm because she was shooting all of the shots.”

With examples like that i’s safe to say, what Washington didn’t have was Natalie Nakase.

This wasn’t just a win—it was a culture shift. The kind Nakase’s been preaching since she took her first coaching job.

For the Valkyries, Veronica Burton was the engine and the exclamation point. The former Connecticut Sun guard lit up Valhalla with 22 points on 3-of-4 from deep, snagged nine rebounds, and dished out five assists and made ice-cold plays everywhere.

 “We have to get 1% better each and every day” said Kayla Thornton.

Golden State didn’t roll out some perfect, pass-happy system. They didn’t need to. They had grit, rim pressure, and Kayla Thornton in full war mode. They had Burton getting to the line eight times, calmly cashing seven. They had a head coach who told them not to flinch.

And they didn’t.

The Valkyries team talks like her, plays like her, and fights like her. She coaches with edge, joy, defiance—and they followed her into history. Because Nakase doesn’t do fear. Not when she’s been grinding in the league’s shadows for a decade. Not when she’s made every leap the hard way.

“We needed this win. Not for the record. For us,” she said. “To show ourselves who we are.”

Compare it to history? Please.

• The 2006 Chicago Sky lost 13 straight.

• The 2008 Atlanta Dream lost their first 17.

• Tulsa Shock didn’t hit double-digit wins until Year 4.

The Valkyries? They beat a 2–0 team with an All-Star candidate and outscored them 29–28 in the fourth. This is not the work of some miracle.

This is what happens when your head coach breathes defiance and teaches fight.

“We talked about attention to detail…we just made a lot of intentional preparation in shoot around today…my gut feeling I told my staff…”This is going to go down to the wire”…we met up for an extra hour for preparation” said Nakase.

She’s not designing a culture in a lab. She’s wearing it. Living it. Teaching it. Every timeout, every substitution, every eye-lock with Kayla or Temi Fagbenle or Carla Leite. And now it’s in their bones.

“It’s more credit to the players and my staff… This wasn’t about me,” she added. “Our defense… Coach Powell was giving a lot of timely defensive coverages. It’s not about me—it’s about everyone.”

So when the final buzzer sounded and history dropped into her lap?

“I hate cold water!!” Nakase laughed. “I was trying to get out of it—they had me cornered in every space. But I gotta celebrate it. This is a moment, and I am very, very happy.”

Golden State is 1–1.

And the league better take notice—because the Jordans are laced up.