The Golden State Valkyries have announced the staff that will work under coach Natalie Nakase in the team’s expansion season.
Kasib Powell, Ta’Shauna “Sugar” Rodgers and Landon Tatum join the organization as assistant coaches less than two months from their season opener.
Powell arrives from the Miami Heat, where he was named a player development coach in 2024 after three seasons as the head coach of the G League’s Sioux Falls Skyforce. He spent most of his 10-year playing career overseas after graduating from Texas Tech.
Rodgers, a former WNBA All-Star, has coaching experience at the pro and college levels, having been on the Las Vegas Aces’ staff in 2021 and the Georgetown and William & Mary benches since. She was an All-Star and Sixth Woman of the Year in 2017 for the New York Liberty as part of an eight-year pro career that included a championship in Minnesota as a rookie.
Tatum most recently was an assistant coach for the Maine Celtics of the G League and was previously the Washington Wizards’ director of player development.
The Valkyries also filled that role in their front office, naming Sidney Parsons as their player development director, a job she held for the German national team after being an assistant coach on the national team’s staff for five years.
Former San Francisco State guard Sidney Dobner will be their video director after holding a similar role for the G League’s Stockton Kings. Dobner was on the Milwaukee Bucks’ video staff during their 2021 title run and became the team’s first female assistant coach in 2023. Former UC Santa Barbara assistant coach Daisy Feder, will be an assistant video coordinator.
The next big date for the Valkyries is April 14, when they have the fifth pick in the WNBA Draft. They open the regular season May 16 against the LA Sparks.