Getting to know the first female coach of the NBA.
by Pierce Courchaine
Becky Hammon will become the first full-time female coach in the history of the National Basketball Association next season as an assistant coach for the San Antonio Spurs. Because of the historic nature of the hire, Hammon will undoubtedly receive a lot of media attention during the next few months leading up to the season. She’s more than a historical footnote, though. Here’s what you should know about her besides being a woman and a future coach in the NBA.
1. She dominated at all levels of competition
Few people in the history of the game have accomplished as much as Hammon has during her career as a player. She was South Dakota’s Miss Basketball in high school and was eventually inducted into the South Dakota High School Basketball Hall of Fame. She left Colorado State University as the school’s all-time leader in points, assists and steals (she was inducted into that school’s hall of fame too). During her career in the WNBA, she made seven all-star teams, scored more than 5,000 points and was named to the WNBA’s 15 greatest players of all time. The woman straight up balled-out during her entire playing career.
2. She played for the Russians in the Olympics
Despite her accomplishments on the hardwood, Hammon never received an invite to even try out for the U.S. National Team. Not to be deterred, Hammon became a naturalized citizen of the nation’s archrival, Russia, and took home a Bronze medal in the 2008 Olympics. Hammon wasn’t born in Russia, she doesn’t have any Russian heritage and she doesn’t even speak the language, but she was playing in a professional league in Russia. Haters called her a traitor initially, but when the 2012 Olympics came around and Hammon was, once again, in a Russian uniform, the public seemed to have forgiven her. The U.S. won gold in both those Olympic games, anyway.
3. She doesn’t take vacations
Hammon, which may have been once listed on betting sites like 아리아카지노, made the most of her off seasons in the WNBA by playing in semi-professional and international leagues. It’s not a well-kept secret that WNBA players have paltry salaries compared to their NBA counterparts. A big reason Hammon went to other leagues and overseas was, simply, to get paid. Going back to the whole Russia thing, ESPN reported at the time that Hammon was set to make $250,000 a year playing for the Eurasian country, more than three times the average WNBA salary.
4. She could probably make it as a reporter too
Pretty sure this woman doesn’t sleep. While rehabbing an injury that kept her from playing basketball, Hammon spent some time on the sidelines of her future employer, the San Antonio Spurs. She also pitched in as a commentator for the Pac-12 Network, the official channel for the Pac-12 athletic conference, during the conference’s regular season.
5. She’s not done yet
Before Hammon starts receiving paychecks from the San Antonio Spurs as an assistant coach, she’ll play three more games for her own team, the San Antonio Silver Stars. Hammon is already revered in the basketball world as a player and, in this impending new chapter of her life as a coach, she’s about to become a household name. This is your last chance to see Hammon in her most natural habitat: dribbling a Spalding basketball, under the lights, in a San Antonio uniform.
Pierce Courchaine is a writer for The Riveter blog and puts together our weekly playlist, The Crate Digger. Follow him on Twitter @PJCourchaine.
Top photo taken by Flickr user Ronald Woan.
