SAN ANTONIO—History was made in the NBA on Tuesday, August 5 when Becky Hammon was named an assistant coach to the 2014 NBA Finals champ, the San Antonio Spurs. Hammon is a six-time WNBA All-Star. She was introduced as the new assistant coach during a press conference on Tuesday.

“I very much look forward to the addition of Becky Hammon to our staff,” Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich said. “Having observed her working with our team this past season, I’m confident her basketball IQ, work ethic and interpersonal skills will be a great benefit to the Spurs.”

She revealed on July 23 that she was retiring as a player from the WNBA. For eight seasons, Hammon played with the New York Liberty and was traded to the San Antonio Stars in 2007.

“I’m just incredibly grateful, obviously, to the Spurs organization and Coach Pop and (Spurs General Manager R.C. Buford),” Hammon said. “The whole staff really just from day one has been so great to me. I’m a little overwhelmed right now, to be perfectly honest.”

“There’s women that have trail-blazed much bigger paths and really trail-blazed the path for things like this to happen,” Hammon said. “There’s a lot more important things going on, in the bigger things, CEOs of companies. Women are really in every area. They’re in the surgery rooms. They’re doctors. They’re lawyers. They’re COOs.”

Hammon obtained the All-American title three times while at Colorado State and has been playing in the WNBA for nearly 16 seasons since being drafted in 1999. She was named one of the WNBA Top 15 Players of All-Time in July 2011.

By LaDale Anderson