The WNBA will expand to 13 teams for the 2025 season, welcoming the expansion franchise Golden State Valkyries. Golden State has a lot of work to do before next season to field a team, and that all start with choosing a head coach. The team made a historic announcement on Thursday about who will lead their team during their inaugural season.

The Valkyries have hired Natalie Nakase as the franchise's first head coach, per Marisa Ingemi of the San Francisco Chronicle.

Nakase spent the last three years in Las Vegas as the lead assistant coach alongside Becky Hammon. She has 16 years of professional coaching experience and two WNBA titles with the Aces. Before the Aces, Nakase spent 10 years with the Los Angeles Clippers.

“The goal is always to win a championship,” Nakase said in an interview with the Chronicle. “That’s always the standard. You gotta be competitive, you gotta love to win and you gotta hate to lose. If it doesn’t hurt you to lose, it’s not going to be a fit here.”

Nakase focused on defense with the Aces, helping them to a league-best 97.7 defensive rate in 2023.

Nakase plans to create a winning environment with the Valkyries by having a fun atmosphere.

“I think the biggest thing I’m taking (from Vegas) is that it has to be fun,” Nakase said. “Every day, you gotta have fun. My coaching style has shifted from being a lot more strict to keeping an open heart and making things fun every single day.”

Nakase will focus on filling out her coaching staff over the next few months. The Valkyries will pick players from all 12 WNBA teams in an expansion draft on December 6th.

Valkyries leading the charge of WNBA's ambitious expansion plans 

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The WNBA picked exactly the right time to begin expanding the league.

Women's basketball is having a moment in 2024, with multiple storylines all working together to expand the reach of the sport within the U.S. and across the globe.

The WNBA is more popular than ever, thanks in part to a sensational rookie class. Rookies Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese, and Cameron Brink have brought a ton of attention to the W. The 2024 WNBA season has been smashing attendance and viewership records left and right.

It also helped that 2024 is a summer Olympics year, which saw Team USA women's basketball win its eighth straight gold medal. This set an Olympic record.

Now the WNBA is taking full advantage. The league has plans to expand the regular-season schedule to 44 games in 2025 as well as adding the Valkyries. Cathy Engelbert also has plans to expand the WNBA to 16 teams by 2028, with Toronto and Portland confirmed as the next cities for expansion franchises.

There truly hasn't been a better time to be a fan of women's basketball.