Valkyries Coach Sees No Limits to Kate Martin's Possible Progress
Few would have imagined that less than one year after her final season at the University of Iowa, Kate Martin would arguably be the face of a WNBA franchise.
However, that's exactly what has happened.
The No. 18 pick in the 2024 WNBA Draft carved a role for herself off of the bench for the Las Vegas Aces during her rookie season. She was then selected by the Golden State Valkyries in their WNBA Expansion Draft last week and is the biggest-name player currently on their roster.
And if that hasn't already set her up for success, her having a pre-existing relationship with Valkyries head coach Natalie Nakase (who was an assistant coach for Martin in Las Vegas last season) certainly will.
Although Nakase conveyed why Martin doesn't need any preferential treatment to thrive in Golden State during a December 12 episode of "The Late Sub with Claire Watkins" podcast.
"When a person has that type of work ethic, I think the limits are endless," Nakase said of Martin. "When Kate goes, she goes at maximum speed. And so that makes her progress, I think, even quicker than most.
"And then just the level of how much she wants to learn... So it's doing stuff more than just getting through the drills on the court. It's learning off the court, too," Nakase continued. "And then [Martin] asks a ton of questions, and you've gotta love that, right? That's the coach's dream when they want to ask a lot of questions. How they can get better, how they can help. Kate was always saying that. 'How can I make the team better?'
"And so that just shows you there's a self-less character, there's a high character that we really want," Nakase said.
"When a person has that type of work ethic I think the limits are endless. ... When Kate goes she goes at full maximum speed."
— Just Women’s Sports (@justwsports) December 13, 2024
- Natalie Nakase Valkyries Head Coach pic.twitter.com/VvxtQJMVLa
The 2025 season can't come soon enough for Martin and Valkyries fans.
Grant Young covers Women’s Basketball, the New York Yankees, and the New York Mets for Sports Illustrated’s ‘On SI’ sites. He holds an MFA degree in creative writing from the University of San Francisco (USF), where he also graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing and played on USF’s Division I baseball team for five years. However, he now prefers Angel Reese to Angels in the Outfield.