Natalie Nakase has always been big on speaking her goals into existence. Sometimes, though, opportunities arise almost unbidden.

File her new job as the lead assistant coach for the Las Vegas Aces in that category.

After spending the past 10 years as a coach in the Clippers’ organization, last week Nakase joined Becky Hammon – the longtime San Antonio Spurs assistant coach – on the bench in Las Vegas.

The NBA’s two longest-tenured women coaches are taking their talents to the WNBA, where they’ll lead one of the league’s most popular teams and, after Bill Laimbeer guided the Aces to three WNBA semifinals appearances and one Finals berth, one of the league’s top title threats.

Hammon, who agreed to a five-year deal, will be the first WNBA coach to earn $1 million annually.

For Nakase, “this opportunity, it came out of nowhere,” she said Monday by phone. “Months ago, my goal was to be a head coach in the NBA. But I think there’s gonna be different paths and different journeys; the biggest thing for me is to learn under great coaches and have an open mind and be prepared.

“I’m so excited,” she added. “I keep using that word over and over again, but I’m really excited.”

Hammon, 44, spent the past eight years as an assistant under coaching icon Gregg Popovich, including guiding the Spurs to a Summer League title in 2015.

She had interviewed for several high-profile jobs as a head coach and general manager in the NBA, but her candidacy wasn’t helped, she recently told reporters, by the fact that she’d never before been a head coach and had spent the entirety of her coaching tenure with San Antonio.

Nakase, 41, started working for the Clippers in 2012 as an intern for Vinny Del Negro, before becoming the team’s assistant video coordinator under Doc Rivers. In 2017, she spent the season as an Agua Caliente assistant under Casey Hill and then worked as a player development/assistant coach for the L.A. Clippers for the next three seasons.

Most recently, she was again an assistant for Agua Caliente, the G League affiliate in Ontario.

Now she’ll coach under Hammon, whom she previously knew “from afar,” having only ever competed against her, first years ago as players in the WNDL (essentially the women’s G League) and then as coaches.

“Just in passing, when we would play each other, we would have conversations, ask each other how it’s going,” Nakase said. “Like with any other coach.”

But the news that Nakase was among the finalists for head coach of the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury – for whom her longtime friend Diana Taurasi stars – spurred Hammon to reach out.

“We had a conversation a couple weeks ago and we just couldn’t get off the phone,” Nakase said. “We discussed what we learned from our experiences, things we could take moving forward. We both enjoyed talking hoop, so I think this is going to be a really great learning opportunity and also I’m very excited to put our basketball minds together.”

𝗢𝗙𝗙𝗜𝗖𝗜𝗔𝗟: Natalie Nakase is joining the Las Vegas Aces Coaching Staff.

Welcome to Las Vegas, @NatalieNakase! pic.twitter.com/HalrEXhMzi

— Las Vegas Aces (@LVAces) February 24, 2022

Nakase – a 5-foot-2 former point guard who starred at Marina High School in Huntington Beach and walked on at UCLA before earning a role as a three-year starter and team captain – will contribute what she’s learned in her decade with the Clippers, including seven years with Rivers and the past two under Lue.

“Doc taught me about leadership and the ins and outs of schemes, building chemistry, holding players accountable,” Nakase said. “And two years with Ty Lue, he taught me how to see the game and not being afraid to make adjustments, which is obviously his thing, and building confidence in his players – that’s the biggest takeaway I took from Ty.”

She’s leaving an impression on the Clippers, too, Lue said.

“The biggest thing she accomplished was respect,” Lue said. “From Day One, her work ethic, her knowing the game the way she knows the game.”

He applauded her for her own development – and for how well she did the job of developing players.

“That just shows you a lot about who she is and how good she is and how smart she is,” Lue said. “The Aces done a great job by signing her, because she’s a great talent.”

Amir Coffey, a third-year wing, was one of those players with whom Nakase worked often.

“When I got here, that was the first person I started (studying film) with, and it helped me a lot,” Coffey said. “Even when I wasn’t playing, I was watching some other guys with her. It just elevated my game. She has a great understanding of not just the game itself, and then on top of that, she helped me with dribbling, shooting. Like, she did it all.”

He apparently feels so indebted to her he said he’d have a hard time determining who to root for when his sister Nia Coffey’s Atlanta Dream meets Nakase’s Aces: “I’m a little 50-50.”

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Nakase is more certain, she said, that a woman will be an NBA head coach – eventually.

“Of course,” she said. “It’s just a matter of time. Becky, she’s very close, and I think we both even talked about it, it’s gonna be who is going to fit exactly what an organization needs. Leadership in terms of experience, taking over a younger team or a team that’s already in a championship run.

“It’s all about what that organization needs and does that coach fit that role of what they need. And I think women absolutely can do that, no hesitation. We’ve gone up in numbers and down a little bit this year (Nakase’s departure leaves five women on NBA coaching staffs, including the Sparks’ Kristi Toliver, in Dallas). But that doesn’t mean we’re regressing.

“We’re definitely ready for the opportunity.”

CLIPPERS (32-31) at ROCKETS (15-45)

When: Tuesday, 5 p.m.

Where: Toyota Center, Houston

TV/Radio: Bally Sports SoCal / 570 AM

Do work that matters to you. https://t.co/M1IGbEpoYc

— Natalie Nakase (@NatalieNakase) December 22, 2018