By Ken Reed
For at least a couple decades, the NBA has been the most progressive American professional sports league.
That distinction will be reinforced in the coming days when the Milwaukee Bucks interview San Antonio Spurs assistant coach Becky Hammon.
Hammon, a college All-American at Colorado State and a long-time WNBA star, is the first full-time female assistant coach in NBA history. She also was the Spurs’ head coach when the team won the Las Vegas summer league a couple years back.
“Becky can do anything she wants,” said Gregg Popovich, who hired her at San Antonio.
“She’s earned the respect of everybody in our program, top to bottom. I really respect her knowledge and her way of doing things. So whatever she wants to do in her future, she’s a natural. She’s got it all.”
The game’s biggest star, LeBron James, has said he’d be cool with having a woman as his coach as long as she knows her stuff.
“If she knows what she’s doing, we’ll love it,” said James. “I mean, listen, at the end of the day, basketball, it’s not about male or female. If you know the game, you know the game.”
One can’t make the truth any simpler than that.
— Ken Reed, Sports Policy Director, League of Fans
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