On Wednesday night, Becky Hammon achieved her goal of becoming an NBA head coach, although for a brief amount of time. It was the first time a woman served as head coach in a regular season NBA game.
After arguing with a referee in the second quarter of a game with the Los Angeles Lakers in San Antonio, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich was ejected. He turned to Hammon, who is one of his assistant coaches, and indicated that she take over as the team’s acting head coach.
A WNBA veteran, Hammon has been an assistant coach with the San Antonio Spurs since 2014. She is one of the six women who hold an assistant coaching role in the NBA this season – after a record 11 last season. Previously, she served as the head coach of the Spurs’ summer league team and had taken over for Popovich in a preseason game in October 2017. As the Spurs rotated head coaches during the scrimmages leading up to the NBA’s restart in Orlando last season, she coached the team in an exhibition matchup against the Milwaukee Bucks.
This Wednesday marked the first time she acted as head coach for a regular-season game. Up until last season, it was team legend and then-assistant coach Tim Duncan that stepped into Popovich’s seat as head coach whenever Popovich had to be away for personal reasons.
When asked about her experience, Hammon said, “It was business as usual.” “They’re used to hearing my voice in practice, Pop will put us in two teams and we’ll each have a team. So they’re kind of used to hearing me out there, seeing me draw a play on the board or whatnot,” she remarked.
San Antonio lost the game to Los Angeles 121-107. The loss will officially go on Popovich’s record since NBA’s bookkeeping rules say that all results belong to the team’s listed head coach and not any other replacements.
