Becky Hammon becomes first female head coach in regular-season NBA game

Becky Hammon has spent the last few seasons working to become an NBA head coach, and on Wednesday she achieved that goal … if only for a brief period. San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich was sent off in the second quarter of their game against the Los Angeles Lakers, and Hammon took over as the team’s interim head coach. This makes her the first woman to be a head coach in an NBA regular season game.

Hammon, a WNBA legend, has been a Spurs assistant since 2014. Since then, she has risen through the ranks to serve as Spurs head coach in a number of different roles ahead of Wednesday’s game against the Lakers. She led the organization’s Summer League team and, as the Spurs rotated head coaches during the scrimmages leading up to the NBA restart in Orlando last season, she coached the team. in an exhibition game against the Milwaukee Bucks. But when Popovich had to be absent from the squad last season for personal reasons, it was team legend and then assistant coach Tim Duncan who stepped into Popovich’s chair as ‘head coach.

Duncan stepped down after last season, however, paving the way for Hammon to earn that distinction now. While the distinction will only last for Wednesday’s game, it will almost certainly have a permanent chance down the line. Many believe Hammon is the alleged heir to San Antonio and will take over from Spurs when Popovich retires. Otherwise, she was interviewed for head coaching jobs with the Milwaukee Bucks and Indiana Pacers. Eventually, she’ll likely be the NBA’s full-time head coach.

But Wednesday’s game with the Lakers was her first chance to do so in a game that mattered, and while beating the defending champions was hardly a realistic goal, she performed well in the role she could a day definitely occupy.