Ever since Becky Hammon took on the role of Assistant Coach alongside Greg Popovich at San Antonio Spurs, rumours have been circling around just about every NBA team who needed a new Head Coach of the possibility of her taking on the role.
As the 2021 NBA seasons plays the last games of the Playoffs, a number of teams are looking for new head coaches. But now, it’s not just Becky’s name mentioned as a possible first female coach, it’s several.
The NBA don’t just want a female Head Coach, they need one.
Check out this billboard in place near to the Boston Celtics training facility…Celtic fans are calling out for Brad Stevens to be replaces by a female coach – either Becky Hammon or Kara Lawson.
The Boston Celtics, Orlando Magic, New Orleans Pelicans, Dallas Mavericks, Washington Wizards, Indiana Pacers and Portland Trail Blazers are franticly looking for the right candidate. As the rumour mill continues to churn around the teams in need of a new coach, the list of possible female candidates have increased and in addition to Becky and Kara, names such as Dawn Staley and Teresa Weatherspoon are added to that list.
Who do you think will be the first female Head Coach in the NBA? And will it happen in 2021?
Meet the female coaches who could make Global sports history:
Becky Hammon
Becky, who has been with the Spurs since 2007 and is in her seventh season as the Spurs assistant coach after an accomplished 16-year career in the WNBA. Back in 2015, Becky became the first-ever female head coach in the NBA’s Summer League when the Spurs announced she would coach their summer league team. Becky led the Spurs to the Las Vegas Summer League title on July 20, 2015, becoming the first female NBA head coach to win a Summer League title
In 2020, she became the first female coach to head an NBA team when head coach Greg Popovich was sent off court.
Dawn Staley
Dawn Staley is currently the head coach for South Carolina, and The United States of America. Staley is a three-time Olympic gold medalist, and was elected to carry the United States flag at the opening ceremony of the 2004 Summer Olympics. After playing point guard for the University of Virginia under Debbie Ryan, and winning the gold medal at the 1996 Summer Olympics, she went to play professionally in the American Basketball League and the WNBA. In 2011, Staley was voted in by fans as one of the Top 15 players in WNBA history. Staley was inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in 2012.
On April 2, 2020, Staley became the first person to win the Naismith Award as a player, and also as a coach. She also won the other three major National Coach of the Year awards, after she led her team to a 32 win season and a final ranking of #1 in both major polls, before the Tournament was cancelled.
In 2021, Staley led her team to a third Final Four, before losing a controversial game to Stanford 66–65.
Kara Lawson
Kara Lawson is the head coach of the Duke Blue Devils women’s basketball team. She is a former American professional women’s basketball player in the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) and a basketball television analyst for ESPN and the Washington Wizards. Lawson primarily played as a shooting guard. She won a gold medal at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China. Lawson retired from the WNBA in 2015 to focus on her broadcasting career. She began her coaching career as an assistant coach for the Boston Celtics of the NBA in 2019.
Teresa Weatherspoon
Teresa Weatherspoon is an American professional basketball coach and former player who serves as assistant coach for the New Orleans Pelicans of the National Basketball Association (NBA). She played for the New York Liberty and Los Angeles Sparks of the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) and served as the head basketball coach of the Louisiana Tech Lady Techsters. Weatherspoon was inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in 2010, and the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2019. In 2011, she was voted in by fans as one of the Top 15 players in WNBA history. In 2016, Weatherspoon was chosen to the WNBA Top 20@20, a list of the league’s best 20 players ever in celebration of the WNBA’s twentieth anniversary.
Watch this space! Comment below who you think will be the first female head coach in the NBA ????
