Becky Hammon has moved another step closer to becoming the first full-time female head coach in NBA history.
The longtime San Antonio Spurs assistant emerged as one of the finalists for the Portland Trail Blazers' head-coaching job, according to multiple reports. Her second interview with the team took place earlier this week.
Hall of Famer and Phoenix Suns and Mercury executive Ann Meyers Drysdale joined After Hours with Amy Lawrence on Friday to discuss Hammon's candidacy, and what the hiring would mean to the NBA and pro sports.
"I know everybody's getting excited and all that, but to me, it's like normal. I mean, she's a coach. She's a coach," Drysdale said. "How many men are coaching women? So, why should this be any different? This woman's been in the game of basketball, it's been her life. She knows it, she understands it, the players respect her. So, I'm not that gaga over it because to me, if he's qualified -- and I know she is -- she deserves a shot at being a head coach. And so should many other women.
"But I also agree with Charles Barkley in the sense that, you've got 30 teams and only seven African-American coaches. And even on the WNBA's side, you've got 12 teams and seven of them are coached by men... It's going to be interesting to see what team will take a chance and be confident enough to say, 'You know, we're going to give her a two-year deal' or whatever. But you know in the NBA, who's the longest tenured coach? It's [Greg Popovich] in San Antonio, also [Erik Spoelstra] in Miami. It's a business where you get fired. You get fired and rehired. We see that all the time in the NBA.
"If Becky does get hired -- and Portland's probably the best opportunity for her -- if it doesn't happen this year, it'll happen next year. But Jenny Boucek is out there, she's been on [former Mavericks coach] Rick Carlisle's bench for years. And there's other women -- I know [South Carolina coach] Dawn Staley's name has been mentioned, [Duke coach] Kara Lawson's been mentioned. But there's quite a few other women who are in the NBA, too. Whether it's this year or next year, it's going to happen. Just like the WNBA, it was going to happen, and it's the right thing to do."
Hammon, who joined the Spurs' coaching staff in 2014, played 16 seasons in the WNBA for the New York Liberty and San Antonio Stars. A six-time WNBA All-Star and two-time All-WNBA first-team selection, Hammon coached the Spurs' summer league team in 2015, 2016 and 2019.
In a recent newsletter, New York Times writer Marc Stein reported that "there's a growing belief" that Trail Blazers owner Jody Allen has a strong interest in hiring Hammon.
The entire conversation between Drysdale and Lawrence can be accessed in the audio player above.
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