One Woman's Perspective on Becky Hammon's Return to the WNBA
Becky Hammon leaves the NBA to become the Las Vegas Aces new head coach.
Thanks for reading the Her Hoop Stats Newsletter. If you like our work, be sure to check out our stats site, our podcast, and our social media accounts on Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram. You can also buy Her Hoop Stats gear, such as laptop stickers, mugs, and shirts!
Haven’t subscribed to the Her Hoop Stats Newsletter yet?
The news that Becky Hammon was being pursued by both the Las Vegas Aces and the New York Liberty came as quite the Christmas day surprise from The Athletic. By New Year's Eve, they had reported that Hammon would be joining the Aces for a record-setting contract that per ESPN will run five years.
Many fans know today that Hammon was considered the front-runner to be the first female NBA head coach. As the first female NBA head coach in NBA Summer League, she led the San Antonio Spurs’ Summer League team to the championship in 2015. On December 30, 2020, she became the first woman to serve as the head coach in an NBA game when she took over after Spurs Head Coach Gregg Popovich was ejected. One year and one day later, the Las Vegas Aces made her return to the WNBA official.
Becoming the head coach for the Aces completes the full-circle picture for Hammon. She played for the franchise when they were in San Antonio for seven years (2007-2014). In 2008, she took the Stars to the WNBA Finals where they lost to the now-defunct Detroit Shock 3-0. Hammon never won a WNBA championship as a player but steps into a role where she could do so in her first year as a head coach.
It is also important to note that the Aces organization retired her jersey last September to let her know that she also was an important part of the organization despite not playing in Las Vegas. It served as a reminder that the Aces remember their previous franchise players and make them feel important.
Hammon’s hiring hit home for me more than the hiring of other head coaches recently because I became a fan of the WNBA in the year 2008. I saw what Hammon and Sophia Young-Malcolm were able to do together as they formed a great duo. They were unstoppable and I tracked their journey all the way to the WNBA Finals that year. I followed the pair and the team for several more years and when Hammon retired in 2014, it didn’t feel the same.
The Stars didn’t have that same energy she brought to her game and fell to the lottery their last few years before relocating to Las Vegas. Seeing Hammon again with the Aces and now being the head coach brought back a flood of memories for me. Watching her play, watching all of the games online or on TV, and seeing the passes to the posts and scoring in a variety of ways. Now, she’s in charge of it.
It’s also fantastic to me to see ex-WNBA players want to come back to coach in this league. It’s important because it shows that they also want to grow and promote the league even more. It can be a fantastic marketing opportunity by the WNBA to show that even NBA assistant coaches want to be WNBA head coaches.
Hammon will have her hands full as it was reported that she would finish the season in San Antonio before coming to Las Vegas. The team is now going through WNBA Free Agency and you have to assume she will play a key role in their decisions this offseason.
It’s going to be very interesting to see what Hammon does in her first year in the league. After all, she is reported as being the highest-paid coach in the WNBA, so it’s pretty clear the Aces have set high expectations for her. Hammon will come in with plenty of coaching experience and it will be neat to see what she does with the roster and what kind of plays/schemes she runs with the team.
Hammon is back in the WNBA. We all should be thrilled about it. One of the best players in the history of the league who now is going to give back by coaching the present and future generation of players. What could be better than that?
Thanks for reading the Her Hoop Stats Newsletter. If you like our work, be sure to check out our stats site, our podcast, and our social media accounts on Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram.
From another perspective, it seems like Hammon is settling for the WNBA. It was clear she wanted an NBA head coaching job, so taking the Aces' position appears to be giving up on her dream, and realizing it's not going to happen. So she chose being a head WNBA coach over being an NBA assistant, which is positive, but still ... if somebody offered her an NBA head coaching job, she'd be gone in a flash.