In just two years as a general manager in the WNBA, she's led her team to back-to-back championships.

Las Vegas Aces GM Natalie Williams is our guest this week on Nevada Week In Person.

♪♪♪ Support for Nevada Week In Person is provided by Senator William H. Hernstadt.

-Welcome to Nevada Week In Person.

I'm Amber Renee Dixon.

Before becoming general manager of the now back-to-back World Champion Las Vegas Aces, she was an All-American in both volleyball and basketball at UCLA, a U.S. Olympic gold medalist, and a four-time All-Star in the WNBA.

Women's Basketball Hall of Famer Natalie Williams, thank you for joining Nevada Week In Person.

(Natalie Williams) Thanks for having me.

-Will you first tell our viewers how you got this job as GM.

It's a unique story.

-Yeah.

I just, you know, I went to Las Vegas.

I'm originally from Utah.

And I came out for an alumni weekend that Mark Davis and Nikki Fargas had put on for former members of the Las Vegas Aces.

I was currently part of the Utah Stars.

And I just sat down with Nikki and Mark, and we just started talking about the past and things that I wanted to do in the future, which one of them was to be a WNBA GM one day.

And then three months later, I got a call saying, Hey, we would love for you to be our GM.

And so it took me about 48 hours to give her an answer, because I had my own business in Utah at the time.

And I just thought to myself, I know I'd have to move my entire family out here and give up the business that I had created.

But I just couldn't pass it up.

-For those who don't know, the Utah Stars was once the Las Vegas Aces.

-Yes, the former Aces team.

-Okay.

So it was Utah, then it was San Antonio, and then Las Vegas?

-Yes.

-I read that you talked about, in getting this job, It's about who you know, but it's more about how you treat the people that you know.

Is that what you think led to you getting this?

-I mean, I don't know.

I think that would be more of a question for Nikki Fargas.

-The president of the Aces.

-Yes.

I just-- in my life, it was always very important to treat everybody with respect.

And you just never know what impact you can make on a person's life every single day.

And it doesn't matter if it's the president of the Aces or, you know, Mark Davis, the president-- or the owner of the Raiders, or if it's just someone who cleans your room in a hotel.

So my outlook on life is Be kind to everyone and treat everyone with respect, and good things will always happen.

And so for this opportunity to come up was just absolutely incredible, and I definitely could not pass it up.

-Speaking of helping people, what kind of impact you can have on them, that's what your prior business in Utah was, the Natalie Williams Basketball Academy.

-Yep.

-What kind of impact did you have on women?

-Oh, it was absolutely incredible.

I mean, I coached for 16 years, and I created my own basketball academy where I was the owner and head coach and trainer of about 160 kids throughout the season, from third grade all the way up to high school elite.

And I'm just really thankful that I was able to put probably over 65 young women into college.

-Wowee!

How does it feel having a daughter of your own now, Nation Williams, who goes to Centennial High School, being recruited by big name colleges, including your alma mater, UCLA?

-I'm just so proud of her.

And I actually have two daughters in high school at Centennial.

-Okay.

-Ayla, who is 16, has had two ACLs, unfortunately.

But just both of them are incredible athletes.

And I'm just really proud that they have taken to heart all the stuff that I've told them over the years and told them how important rebounding is, and defense, right, because it doesn't matter.

I mean scoring points is important, but if you can be the defender on a team and you can shut someone down and be an incredible rebounder, because defense and rebounding wins games and championships.

-And rebounding is what you were known for in your career.

You averaged 8.29 rebounds per game.

At what point in your many years of playing did you say, I'm going to dedicate myself to this, or, I'm going to specialize in rebounding?

-I just loved rebounding.

I just had a knack at it.

I mean, volleyball helped a little because in volleyball, it's all about hitting the ball at your highest point.

And so that's what helped me in basketball is just going up and getting the ball, understanding timing, understanding angles.

And in my mind, I truly thought I could try to get every rebound in the game, offense and defense.

So I've just kind of instilled that.

Both of my daughters are incredible rebounders.

One is 6 feet tall.

One is, Nation, the baby, is 6'2".

And I'm just super proud of them, how hard they work.

-When you're looking at potential Aces players, how important is that statistic?

-Oh, it's important.

I mean, you've got to-- really, more important than rebounding is defense, right?

At this level you've got to be a great defender.

You've got to love it and want to defend, because players on other teams are so great.

You've got to have an edge somehow.

And that's one reason we brought Alysha Clark in.

I mean, she's an incredible defender.

-Well, you told me in our Nevada Week interview that Coach Becky Hammon likes three-point shooters.

So do you go-- do you battle sometimes over a player that may be better at defense, less good at shooting threes?

-Not really.

I really know what Becky needs now and what she wants.

And it's about finding the pieces that will fit with our already incredible group of superstars that we have.

So just trying to find who else will fit with this team and what we need to win a third championship.

-So another part of your really cool history is your UCLA Hall of Fame profile.

It reads, quote, Arguably the greatest two-sport athlete in UCLA history, Williams was the first ever woman to earn first team All-American honors in both basketball and volleyball in the same year.

You originally wanted to make the U.S. Olympic Volleyball team.

Volleyball team, not basketball team.

What happened with that?

-So I had an incredible experience with the USA team.

After college, I went down to train with them in Balboa Park in San Diego.

We trained five days a week for four hours a day.

And I was one of the younger players on the team at the time.

But you know, I always believed in myself.

I knew I was an incredible hitter.

I was a great blocker.

My specialty wasn't so much defense as good as some of the older players, but I knew I could make an impact with that team.

So I trained with them, got to travel the world for a year and a half.

I think I went to Japan three times in that experience with them.

But three months prior to the Olympics, I was the last cut for the '96 Olympic team in volleyball.

Heartbreaking, really was.

-I see it still impacts you.

-Well, you know.

And everything happens for a reason.

It's just when you know you work so hard for something, and then to be cut from a team and, okay, now what?

Right?

It's like, what do you do now?

So I took about a week to pout and feel sorry for myself.

And then I said, I'm gonna go back to doing something I love, which was basketball, and was able to get a Jones Cup tryout.

Hadn't played basketball in a year and a half.

-Wow!

-Won that, you know, experience; made one of those 12 because of my effort, because of my rebounding and defense.

I was a little rusty with everything else, but just the effort was there.

And four years later, made the Olympic Basketball team.

-And won a gold medal with them.

-And won a gold medal.

-When that all was happening, what was your dad saying?

Because you told me he played in the NBA.

-Yeah.

He just, all my family, and my mom, my dad, both incredible and just encouraged me.

And you know, just telling me, Just keep doing the best that you can be.

That's the same thing I teach my daughters: Just do the best that you can do, that's all anyone can expect of you, and good things will happen.

-If you could go back and change it, would you?

Would you, I mean-- -Which part?

-The part where you got cut.

-No, I don't think so.

I wouldn't be on this path with basketball and have experience-- I may never have played in the WNBA and been a part of that.

So, no, I'm-- everything happens for a reason.

It really does.

-So that Olympic team that you played on alongside the likes of Sheryl Swoopes and Lisa Leslie, who you go on to compete against in the WNBA, you are WNBA legend.

And I wonder what your hopes are for this league that really is only, I guess, less than 30 years old.

-Yeah.

We are entering our 28th season.

And honestly, like I said before, it's like we're on the cusp of really exploding the league.

We're adding another team, maybe two possibly, in the 2025 season.

And I'm just so excited for these young women because, being a pioneer, I know all the struggles that have come about.

And now to get to where they're almost there, of getting all the things that they want and all the things that they deserve and, it's just, it's really a fun time to be a part of.

-That's got to feel so good.

-Yep.

-How do you think being a former player impacts you as a GM?

-Well, I think it's important because I've lived it.

Right?

I've been through everything that these players go through.

I understand the struggles that the coaches go through.

And now I see the backside of it on the league side of what the struggles of the league are and things we're trying to build and grow.

So I think all of it is important.

But just having that experience of having gone through it, it has helped a lot.

It really has.

-And retiring from the WNBA, you describe that as the biggest and most challenging thing.

Why was that?

-Gosh!

You know, I played-- well, I played professional for nine years.

And then when you have a community that is your family and all of a sudden you retire, it's gone.

Right?

So you no longer see the Becky Hammonds anymore and, you know, the Dawn Staleys and all of those people who you love so much.

And so it's just like, oh, you have to recreate yourself and find a new life.

-And how did you do that?

-I found the love of coaching and was able to help a high school team, Skyline High School in Utah, win two State Championships.

And just knew that that was my passion, coaching and teaching the game of basketball to all these incredibly young kids in the state of Utah.

And, you know, I always tell everybody, I felt like I could coach basketball in my sleep.

And it's really been fun to also coach my daughters.

I've coached three of them.

I also have a daughter who's 23.

-How many total children?

-Well, I have six kids.

-Wow!

-Two through marriage; two that I adopted right after the Olympics, Sydney and Taurasi, and they're now 23; and then I have Ayla and Nation who are 16 and 14.

-"Sydney," was that on purpose because of the Olympics?

-Yes.

-Wow!

The choice to adopt, why?

-I didn't know how long I was going to play.

And I, at the time, wanted kids.

I was getting older, and just was a perfect situation.

-What has it brought to your life?

How are you handling being a mom of six?

-It's a lot.

Takes a village.

I've learned that, and I'm sure all parents understand that.

It takes a village to raise kids, but one day at a time.

And even when they leave the house, we have only two at home now, and you still have to take care of them even when they're out of the house.

-Yeah.

How has Las Vegas been for you compared to Utah where you grew up, spent so much of your life?

-It's a lot different.

I did not know it gets this cold here, which I enjoy.

I don't miss the snow as much as I thought I would.

But we're really starting to like Las Vegas.

The heat is a little too much for me, because I run hot.

But just the incredible people that I've met here and to be a part of, I'm going to say, the best organization in the WNBA has been a really, really special thing.

-Two years in the WNBA, two straight titles as a GM.

How do you rationalize that?

-It's just, it's a blessing.

It really is, to be surrounded by the people in the front office, to have an owner like Mark Davis who just is so invested in these women, and then Becky Hammon is an absolutely incredible coach, and her coaching staff.

And then to have, you know, probably some of the best players ever to play in the WNBA on our team.

-Natalie Williams, thank you so much for joining Nevada Week In Person.

-Thank you.

-For more interviews like this, go to vegaspbs.org/nevadaweek.

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