WNBA star Becky Hammon takes questions from the media at the San Antonio Spurs practice facility after being introduced as an assistant coach with the team.
In what many sports fans view as a historic move, the reigning NBA champion San Antonio Spurs announced the hiring of Becky Hammon as assistant coach. Terms of Hammon’s contract were not disclosed.
“I very much look forward to the addition of Becky Hammon to our staff,” Spurs head coach Gregg 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.”
At her introductory press conference Tuesday afternoon, Hammon called the opportunity humbling.
“I’m just incredibly grateful, obviously, to the Spurs organization and Coach Pop and (Spurs General Manager R.C. Buford),” Hammon said. “The whole staff really just from day one has been so great to me. I’m a little overwhelmed right now, to be perfectly honest.”
Hammon, a six-time WNBA All-Star, announced July 23 she will retire as a player at the end of this season. She has played the last eight seasons with the San Antonio Stars.
Hammon is not the first woman in NBA history on an NBA coaching staff. Lisa Boyer, while working for the WNBA’s Cleveland Rockers as an assistant coach, also was on the Cleveland Cavaliers coaching staff under John Lucas in 2001-2002. Boyer is now the associate head coach for the South Carolina women’s basketball team.
Hammon alluded to the historical impact of her hiring, but she also tied in career fields other than basketball.
“There’s women that have trail-blazed much bigger paths and really trail-blazed the path for things like this to happen,” Hammon said. “There’s a lot more important things going on, in the bigger things, CEOs of companies. Women are really in every area. They’re in the surgery rooms. They’re doctors. They’re lawyers. They’re COOs.
“So even me sitting here today to be able to have the playing experience that I had as a professional basketball player, women went before me to pave that trail. So I’m really just reaping benefits of all their hard work and labor.”
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SOURCE: Jill Martin
CNN
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