The Atlanta Dream made franchise history when they beat the New York Liberty 78-62. With 24 wins, they officially set a new franchise record for most wins in a season. New York was short-handed, playing without Sabrina Ionescu, Breanna Stewart, Nyara Sabally, and Isabelle Harrison. Nevertheless, getting a second consecutive victory over another contender was a big win for the Dream. It also highlighted a closely contested race for one of the major end-of-season awards.
After the game, Dream forward Naz Hillmon made the case for Karl Smesko to win Coach of the Year. Smesko certainly has a strong case. This is his first year coaching in the WNBA, but he still managed to lead his team to a top seed, and Allisha Gray and Hillmon are having career years in his system.
Smesko isn’t the only candidate with a strong case, though. Natalie Nakase is also making a play for the award with her success in the Bay Area. Much like the MVP race, the battle for the Coach of the Year award will be closely contested.
Smesko and Nakase are excelling as first-year head coaches
The WNBA is filled with great coaches. Cheryl Reeve, for example, is a veteran coach who is making a case for Coach of the Year by leading the Lynx to the top seed in the league by a significant margin. However, what sets Nakase and Smesko apart from other top coaches in the league is that they are first-year head coaches.
Smesko has been a head coach for a long time, most recently coaching the women’s basketball team at Florida Gulf Coast University for two decades. He never coached in the WNBA before landing the job in Atlanta, but still maximized his team’s potential, put a winning system into place, and built the basis for a deep playoff run.
Nakase, on the other hand, has been in the WNBA for a while. She was Becky Hammon’s assistant coach in Las Vegas from 2022 to 2024. Now, she is the head coach of the Golden State Valkyries—an expansion team that entered the season with no clear star and no foundation to build on.
Nakase quickly established the team’s identity and culture, overcoming absences due to national team commitments and injuries, and making noise in the playoff race. Despite playing without All-Star Kayla Thornton, the Valkyries are still eighth in the regular-season standings and hold the final playoff spot. Nakase and her squad already set a league record for most wins by an expansion team in its first season. She has gotten the most out of her team and that should make her one of the favorites to be named Coach of the Year.