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When Spurs coach Gregg Popovich walked through the AT&T center tunnel after being sent off on Wednesday, the magnitude of the moment – Becky Hammon replacing him to become the first woman to act as a head coach in a game of the NBA in the regular season – was not immediately installed.
“Not on the way to the locker room,” Popovich told reporters on a conference call before San Antonio hosted the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday night. “I was otherwise engaged, emotionally.”
As Popovich’s rage waned, recognition of Hammon’s historic feat began to spread across the country. And the man who added her to his squad seven seasons ago wondered why anyone was surprised.
“Business has been business as usual from the start. We didn’t hire Becky to write the story,” Popovich said. “She deserved it. She’s qualified. She’s wonderful at what she does. I wanted her on my team because of the work she does. And she just happens to be a woman, which deep down shouldn’t be. not be relevant but it’s not in our world as we have seen because it was so difficult for women to get certain positions. It was business as usual for us. “
Popovich, five-time champion, three-time Coach of the Year and infallible Hall of Famer, said Hammon “knows more about the Lakers than I do” and has been tasked with scouting the defending champions before the game.
And Popovich, 71, insisted there were plenty of other women like Hammon, limited by societal stereotypes but not by skills.
“Women also do the same job and better than men. It is a fact. There is no reason that someone like Becky and other women cannot be coaches in the NBA,” a- he declared. “On a larger scale, that’s why it wasn’t a big deal for me – because I know her. And I know his skills, and I know his worth and I know his future is very, very bright. I understand the attention this has taken place, but in all fairness, I assumed most people already knew she was qualified to be the NBA head coach. “
Hammon, 43, was a six-time WNBA All-Star in his 16 seasons with the New York Liberty and San Antonio Silver Stars. She was the first woman to be hired full time on an NBA coaching team in 2014. Last season, there were 11 women on NBA coaching teams across the league.
“There are a lot, a lot, a lot of qualified women who are being held up,” Popovich said. “And that’s just the nature of the world. It’s slowly changing, but the sooner the better.”
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