The San Antonio Spurs announced Tuesday that Becky Hammon will join the team’s coaching staff.
Hammon, an all-time WNBA great who has played the last eight seasons for the San Antonio Stars, said she will retire as a player at the end of the current season.
She will join the Spurs sideline for team’s title defense in the 2014-2015 season, making her the second female assistant coach in NBA history. According to ESPN.com, Lisa Boyer was the first female assistant when she served on the Cleveland Cavaliers coaching staff during the 2001-2002 season.
Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said he was impressed with Hammon when she spent time with the team last season.
“I very much look forward to the addition of Becky Hammon to our staff,” Popovich said. “Having observed her working with our team this past season, I’m confident her basketball IQ, work ethic and interpersonal skills will be a great benefit to the Spurs.”
Note: This post has been updated to indicate that Hammon is not the first female to join an NBA coaching staff. Hammon is, however, the first female to be a paid assistant.
“Hammon is not the first woman hired to be an NBA assistant. Lisa Boyer, now associate head women’s basketball coach at South Carolina, served on John Lucas’ staff in Cleveland in the 2001-02 season.”
I became a huge Becky Hammon fan when she played for the New York Liberty (I still have her bobble-head doll, in the box). She’ll be a great asset to the Spurs. I wish her all the best.
The Spurs are a really great organization. They do so much the right way and they kick ass. They just keep on doing it, too.
Jrlentini, I read some headlines and recalled the same thing. Maybe a decade has made people forget???
Yeah. Good for Pop. He’s a class act.