{"id":219808,"date":"2025-10-17T13:04:13","date_gmt":"2025-10-17T13:04:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/219808\/"},"modified":"2025-10-17T13:04:13","modified_gmt":"2025-10-17T13:04:13","slug":"becky-hammon-las-vegas-aces-head-coach-says-there-is-no-reason-a-woman-cant-become-an-nba-head-coach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/219808\/","title":{"rendered":"Becky Hammon: Las Vegas Aces head coach says there is \u2018no reason\u2019 a woman can\u2019t become an NBA head coach"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n Las Vegas Aces<\/a> head coach Becky Hammon<\/a> sees no reason why a woman can\u2019t lead an NBA team in her lifetime but told CNN Sports<\/a> that it would take a \u201cwhole lot\u201d to pull her away from her current role.\n <\/p>\n

\n Her comments come after Dawn Staley<\/a>, the long-time head coach of the South Carolina women\u2019s basketball team, said she doesn\u2019t believe there will be a female head coach in the NBA during her lifetime.\n <\/p>\n

\n Staley, who recently interviewed to be head coach of the New York Knicks, also suggested that the NBA<\/a> isn\u2019t ready to have a woman lead an organization.\n <\/p>\n

\n But Hammon, who recently led the Aces to yet another WNBA championship on October 10, is more optimistic, while acknowledging there needs to be more growth in the game.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cI think it could happen in our lifetime,\u201d Hammon said to CNN Sports.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cThere is really not a good reason why it hasn\u2019t happened already. I think there are qualified women that could coach in the NBA, it\u2019s just the matter of getting that opportunity.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Hammon, a six-time WNBA All-Star in her 16-year playing career, is one of the female head coaches that many believe could make the transition to the NBA given her incredible record in the game.\n <\/p>\n

\n She has now guided Las Vegas to three championships in the past four years after making history<\/a> as the first full-time female assistant coach in NBA history by the San Antonio Spurs in 2014.\n <\/p>\n

\"Becky<\/p>\n

\n During her time in San Antonio, Hammon became the first woman to lead an NBA team as a head coach during the regular season, when she took over for Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich after he was ejected during a game.\n <\/p>\n

\n She has since said she\u2019s interviewed for several head coaching positions in the league.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cWhen I was in the NBA, in some ways I thought it could happen right away and then in other ways, I thought this is 20 to 30 years from happening,\u201d she added.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cIf men can lead women, there is no reason why women can\u2019t lead men. Just because it hasn\u2019t been done, doesn\u2019t mean it can\u2019t be done.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cAt the end of the day, this is basketball. People follow great characters and great leadership. People follow people that they know can help them.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cIn my experience with the NBA, the players were always great. It\u2019s the higher-ups, that are the decision-makers, that have more of an issue of maybe taking directions from a woman.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n When asked whether she would be interested in taking a head coaching job in the NBA, Hammon said she was very happy with the Aces.\n <\/p>\n

\n The 48-year-old has helped create the league\u2019s latest dynasty \u2013 a term she\u2019s reluctant to fully accept \u2013 and is very content with life in Sin City.\n <\/p>\n

\n However, she said she would take calls if NBA teams wanted to speak.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cWe\u2019ve been building something now for four years,\u201d she said about her time with the Aces. \u201cI love winning, I love the city of Las Vegas and my bosses that I answer to.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cI\u2019ll take calls, but it would take a whole lot to pull me from here.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\"Hammon<\/p>\n

\n Hammon has been enjoying yet another title celebration this week after Las Las Vegas\u2019 most recent triumph.\n <\/p>\n

\n The Aces secured the third championship in franchise history with a 97-86 win over the Phoenix Mercury last week to sweep the Finals.\n <\/p>\n

\n With celebrations down the famed Vegas Strip set for Friday, Hammon is relishing in what she called the hardest championship to win.\n <\/p>\n

\n The start of the 2025 season was a grueling one for the Aces, who began the year 14-14 before winning their last 16 regular season games.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cIt hits a little different this year, just the journey and the routes that we had to go through. It was tough. It\u2019s that more rewarding,\u201d she added.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cWe fell short last year<\/a>, I think everybody had to retool a little bit, reroute, gameplan a little bit differently and find a way to get back on top.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cWe went around the mountain, up the mountain, down the mountain, back to the mountain top again and it feels really good this time around for sure.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Many are now calling the Aces basketball\u2019s latest dynasty, but it\u2019s a phrase that doesn\u2019t sit totally comfortably with Hammon.\n <\/p>\n

\n She does, though, concede her team is \u201cflirting\u201d with the term after dominating the league in recent seasons.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cA dynasty is different because of the culture and standard for what it takes. You see a lot of one-offs in sports,\u201d she said.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cYou got to have a lot of things go your way, you\u2019ve got to have a little luck and you\u2019ve got to get the right pieces and the right pieces playing together at the right time.\u201d\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Las Vegas Aces head coach Becky Hammon sees no reason why a woman can\u2019t lead an NBA team…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":219809,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[434],"tags":[49,48,459,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-219808","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-nba","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219808","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=219808"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219808\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/219809"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=219808"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=219808"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=219808"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}