Natalie Nakase returns to Los Angeles, defeating Sparks in process

The diminutive coach scored a massive win Friday night.

(Photo credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images)

LOS ANGELES -- As Dearica Hamby and Sarah Ashlee Barker walked ahead of their Los Angeles Sparks coach Lynne Roberts down the lengthy Crypto.com Arena hallway toward their locker room following the required postgame media availability, with their heads down, frustration strewn across their faces, the mood 20 feet ahead of them was vastly different.

Natalie Nakase, the 5-foot-2 rookie coach for the Golden State Valkyries, was hugging an arena staffer whom she had known from her time coaching with the LA Clippers.

The smile on Nakase’s face was as equal in measure as the disappointment on the Sparks’ as the two entities passed each other in the hallway, where Nakase would then duck in through a wooden door to do her postgame session.

“A ton of emotions,” Nakase said following her team’s 82-73 victory over the Sparks, pushing the Valkyries to 2-1 and the Sparks to a 1-3 mark.

“When we were just flying over the city, I was, like, ‘Oh, there’s where I used to live.’ Just everything comes back,” Nakase added. “Obviously, my dad, just a lot of memories with my dad here, and with the Clippers and everything. It kind of gives me goosebumps, and then obviously walking in here. Just goosebumps, I think, would be the best answer.”

Nakase was named Valkyries’ head coach on Oct. 10, 2024, and all she’s done since ascending to the job is exactly what everyone raved about during her time with the Clippers: an ardent worker who would do whatever it took to be successful.