SAN FRANCISCO — Tyler Marsh leads the Sky with patience. Natalie Nakase drives the Valkyries with fire. But they climbed the WNBA coaching ladder in similar fashion.
Both cut their chops in the G League, the NBA’s development league, before earning spots on the staffs of NBA greats — Nakase with Doc Rivers, Marsh with Rick Carlisle.
By the time they joined Becky Hammon’s staff and helped turn the Aces’ offense into a model for the rest of the league, they were bringing their personalities to the huddle.
“Tyler was a little more calm, cool and collected,” former Aces guard Kate Martin, now with the Valkyries, told the Sun-Times. “Nat is a little more fiery.”
If they were the twin spirits whispering in Hammon’s ear, Marsh was the angel on one shoulder, exuding calm. Nakase? The spark, crackling with energy.
“If you talk to her for five minutes, you can see the fire in her and feel it,” Marsh said.
And he sees it reflected in the Valkyries’ identity.
“They play extremely hard,” Marsh said. “They don’t take possessions off. That’s very consistent with Natalie’s character.”
Nakase didn’t hesitate when asked what she has taken from Marsh.
“Be kind,” she said. “Tyler is about being calm and patient.”
He has needed every ounce of that patience this season.
The Sky, once penciled in as a playoff team, are 4-11 after an 83-78 loss to the Valkyries late Friday and are still figuring out how to finish possessions. They turn it over so much, it has been hard for a real identity to take hold.
The Valkyries, meanwhile, have been one of the season’s most fun surprises. They’re in playoff position despite missing four players because of international duty and lacking a traditional superstar.
Defense has been a major separator. The Valkyries lead the league in protecting the paint. The Sky, by contrast, have struggled in most defensive categories.
Marsh and Nakase are regarded as talented tacticians, molded under one of the sharpest minds in the league. They’ve each taken pieces of Hammon’s pace-and-space system with them but have had to adapt it to their rosters.
“I know he tailored his offense specifically for his players,” Nakase said. “He can build strengths out of what his players can do.”
Angel Reese’s new role might be the best example of Marsh’s creativity. She has evolved into more of a facilitator, notching her first career triple-double this month.
It feels like a new kind of spell for the Sky, one that will be crucial to their future. Reese is attacking the paint, passing to shooters and running the break.
But it’s hard to conjure pace-and-space without bigs who can make three-pointers or a point guard who can set the tempo. Reese and Kamilla Cardoso are working toward that, but neither shoots much from the outside yet. And the Sky lost their floor general, Courtney Vandersloot, to a season-ending ACL tear.
Another key difference in the journeys of Marsh and Nakase: the starting points of the organizations they joined.
The Valkyries were backed by NBA infrastructure from the beginning. The Warriors’ billionaire ownership group paid a $50 million expansion fee to enter the league and operates the WNBA’s most valuable franchise, according to a recent Sportico report.
The Sky, by comparison, joined the league in 2006 for only $10 million. As one of the few franchises without NBA backing, the Sky remain understaffed and behind on player amenities. A new practice facility is scheduled for 2026, but it already has been delayed.
In the meantime, Marsh continues to lead with the same calm that got him here. Until the Sky invest more around him, patience might be his most powerful tool.