Becky Hammon

Becky Hammon played college ball at Colorado State where she was an All-American in the 1998-99 season and was named Colorado Sportswoman of the Year. She was Western Athletic Conference player-of-the-year that season and led her team to the Sweet 16 at the NCAA Tournament. Her jersey was retired by Colorado State in 2005 and she was inducted into the Colorado State Sports Hall of Fame in 2004.

Hammon then joined the WNBA and became one of the great players in that league, playing through the 2014 season as a point guard. She initially played with the New York Liberty, but also played for the Tennessee Fury and Colorado Chill in the NWBL (National Women’s Basketball League), and eventually playing with the San Antonio Silver Stars. During her WNBA career, Hammon was a first-team All-WNBA selection in 2009 and was the seventh WNBA player to score 5,000 points, surpassing that milestone in 2011.

Hammon also played overseas in her off-seasons, playing in Italy with Trentino Rovereto Basket (2001–2002), Rivas Ecópolis (2006–2007), CSKA Moskva (2007–2009), Ros Casares Valencia (2009–2010), Orenburg (2010-2011), and Spartak (2011-2012). Her tenure with CSKA Moskva eventually led to some controversy. Hammon was never selected to play for the United States internationally, but wanted to play in the Olympics so in 2007 she obtained Russian citizenship and eventually played for Russia at the 2008 and 2012 Olympic Games. She was criticized by several other American players and coaches for doing this but the controversy subsided.

While playing in San Antonio Hammon began attending practices with the NBA San Antonio Spurs, and came under the influence of Spurs’ coach Gregg Popovich. In August 2014 Hammon made history when Popovich asked her to become a full-time assistant coach for the Spurs after she retired at the end of the season. She thus became the first female to be a fully recognized assistant coach in the NBA. In July 2015 she coached the Spurs team in the NBA Summer League, and led them to the title, becoming the first woman head coach of an NBA team at any level. On 30 December 2020 she made NBA history during the regular season when she became the first woman to serve as head coach after Popovich was ejected from a game.

In December 2021 Hammon was named the new head coach of the Las Vegas Aces in the WNBA (Women’s National Basketball Association), and in 2022 she led them to the WNBA Championship, the first rookie coach to lead a WNBA team to the league title. In April 2023 Hammon was named to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.