Spurs Hire Becky Hammon as N.B.A.’s First Female Full-Time Coach

Spurs Hire Becky Hammon as N.B.A.’s First Female Full-Time Coach

Becky Hammon, who is retiring this month from a 16-season playing career in the W.N.B.A., will join the San Antonio Spurs as an assistant coach next season, the N.B.A. team announced Tuesday.

Hammon, 37, becomes the second woman to serve on an N.B.A. coaching staff. The first was Lisa Boyer, who was a member of the Cleveland Cavaliers’ staff in the 2001-02 season. Boyer, however, worked part time and was not paid by the team. Hammon has been hired to a full-time, paid position.

“It’s a tremendous challenge, and it comes with tremendous responsibility,” Hammon said Tuesday. “There have been so many other women that are doing really, really great things, and I’m just kind of following in their paths.”

Hammon spent much of the 2013-14 N.B.A. season around the Spurs’ organization in an unofficial capacity. Coming off a knee injury in 2013, Hammon began to think more seriously about finding a coaching position once her playing career was over.

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The rehabilitation process allowed her to stay in San Antonio, and the Spurs welcomed her into their practices, coaching meetings and film-review sessions. She watched games from behind the bench as the team went on to win its fifth championship. She referred to the whole experience on Tuesday as “an internship.”

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