San Antonio Spurs coach Becky Hammon holds up the championship trophy after they defeated the Phoenix Suns in an NBA summer league championship basketball game Monday, July 20, 2015, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)
NEWARK, N.J. — Adam Silver has “no doubt” the NBA could see a day when Becky Hammon or another woman is a head coach.
The commissioner said Wednesday he had texted and emailed with Hammon while they were in Las Vegas, where she coached the Spurs to the Summer League championship Monday night. He praised the San Antonio organization for hiring her last season as the first full-time female assistant in the NBA and putting her in charge of its entry in the Vegas league.
READ: Hammon steers Spurs to NBA Summer League title
“No different than for me in coming up in my career, unless you’re given those opportunities, you’re never going to show your ability to be successful,” Silver said. “So I’m enormously proud of her and I’m enormously proud of the players who’ve quickly seen that she’s a top-notch coach and have been willing to follow her.”
Hammon is a former WNBA star who had been hired by Spurs coach Gregg Popovich last summer before ending her playing career in San Antonio. After assisting him on a variety of coaching responsibilities during the season, Hammon ran the team in the NBA’s top summer league.
The Spurs lost their first game, then won the rest before beating Phoenix on Monday for the title. Silver had already returned from Las Vegas but watched the game on NBA TV.
READ: Hammon to become 1st female head coach of NBA Summer League
Silver was speaking at the “Beyond Sport United” program, where he joined former NBA star and league global ambassador Dikembe Mutombo and women’s great Teresa Edwards on a panel discussing the social responsibilities of the league and its players.
He believes with more women playing in the WNBA or working in the NBA, and with so many men’s players having women in their family who have played, there will be more opportunities for women like the one Hammon got.
“I think just like we’ve seen enormous change in our society, just in the last decade, I think that’s another ceiling, another barrier that will be broken,” Silver said. “And it takes women like Becky being out there.
“You need pioneers and there’s been other pioneers before her, but I think you couldn’t ask for more of a complete package in terms of former player, student of the game and someone who’s able to work within a strong organization like the Spurs.”