Natalie Nakase

Natalie Nakase

Nakase with the Los Angeles Clippers in 2018
Las Vegas Aces
Position	Assistant coach
League	WNBA
Personal information
Born	(1980-04-18) April 18, 1980 (age 44) Anaheim, California, U.S.
Listed height	5 ft 2 in (1.57 m)
Career information
High school	Marina (Huntington Beach, California)
College	UCLA (1998–2003)
Playing career	2005–2008
Position	Point guard
Coaching career	2008–present
Career history
As player:
2005	San Jose Spiders
2006	San Diego Siege
2007–2008	Herner
As coach:
2008–2010	Wolfenbüttel Wildcats
2010–2011	Tokyo Apache (assistant)
2011–2012	Saitama Broncos
2017–2018	Agua Caliente Clippers (assistant)
2018–2020	Los Angeles Clippers (assistant)
2021–2022	Agua Caliente Clippers (assistant)
2022–present	Las Vegas Aces (assistant)
Career highlights and awards
As assistant coach: 2x WNBA champion (2022, 2023)

Natalie Mitsue Nakase (born April 18, 1980)^[1] is an American professional basketball coach and former player who is an assistant coach with the Las Vegas Aces of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). After retiring as a player, she was a head coach for both men's and women's professional teams. She was later an assistant coach for the Los Angeles Clippers in the National Basketball Association (NBA)

Nakase grew up in Orange County, California, where she was honored as the county's high school player of the year. She played college basketball for the UCLA Bruins, receiving honorable mention as an all-conference player in the Pacific-10. A third-generation Japanese-American, she became the first Asian American to play in the National Women's Basketball League (NWBL). She also played in Germany before suffering a knee injury and retiring as a player. Nakase went into coaching, and served as a head coach of a women's team in Germany before becoming the first female head coach in Japan's top pro men's league. Nakase returned to the United States, joining the Clippers of the NBA as a video intern in 2012. She became an assistant coach to their NBA G League development team, Agua Caliente, in 2017. She became an NBA assistant for the Clippers in 2018, and joined the WNBA's Aces in 2022, when she became the first Asian American coach to win an WNBA title.^[2]