For San Antonio Spurs assistant coach Becky Hammon, it’s a matter of ‘when’ and not ‘if’ she’ll get a chance to head coach an NBA team
Becky Hammon is a force to be reckoned with. In 2015, she became the first woman head coach of a Summer League basketball team for the San Antonio Spurs. And guess what? She also helped guide that team to an NBA Summer League title.
The fact is this: She has all the credentials, and then some, in order to become an NBA head coach and to lead a team. She has been around the game of basketball her whole life. According to an article from The New Yorker, she has had a passion for basketball, ever since she was a toddler.
From 1999-2014 she was a bonafide playmaker in the WNBA, completing quite the accomplished professional playing career after a historic college career at Colorado State. She was tabbed as one of the most incredible and fun to watch stars to ever grace the WNBA.
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She was gifted with the ball and was a unique playmaker. At only 5-foot-6, she was smart, creative and innovative at the point guard position. Her ability to make plays, hit circus shots and consistently find open teammates is what often set her apart from her contemporaries. Her basketball IQ is amongst the highest of anyone that has ever played the game, man or woman.
Every time she played, it’s as if she was one or two steps ahead of everyone else on the court. This makes her successful start to coaching make that much more sense. She made the move from player to coach, and it has paid off.
Learning from Gregg Popovich has certainly helped too, who many consider as one of the best coaches to ever step on an NBA floor. As an assistant for the Spurs, the only question surrounding Hammon that remains is when, not if, she’ll get her shot at being the head coach of an NBA team.
There is a growing sense that she’ll be a head coach in the NBA by the 2021-22 season, perhaps even sooner. Whether it’s in San Antonio or in another city, she is too gifted to not be given a chance to be a head coach in the NBA.