Becky Hammon coaching the aces sideline

Las Vegas Aces President Nikki Fargas announced on December 31, 2021, that the team hired San Antonio Spurs assistant and 6-time WNBA All-Star Becky Hammon as the team’s head coach.

Hammon rewarded the Aces less than nine months later with the franchise’s first WNBA Championship.

A year later she repeated that feat, helping the Aces become the first team to claim back-to-back WNBA titles in more than 20 years.

While the Aces 3-peat bid fell short in Hammon’s third season, the injury-hampered team still advanced to the WNBA Semifinals and finished fourth in league play.

In all, through her first three years with the Aces, Las Vegas tallied a 77-29 (.726) mark in the regular season, 19-6 (.760) in playoff games and in addition to the back-to-back titles, captured the 2022 Commissioner’s Cup crown.

The seeds for Hammon’s hiring were originally sewn when the Aces retired her jersey on September 13, 2021. That ceremony served as the culmination of the franchise’s 25th anniversary alumni initiative, which saw the Aces embrace their Utah and San Antonio roots, and celebrate the players who helped build the franchise and the league from the ground up. Las Vegas owner Mark Davis spent time with Hammon and her family that week, and walked away understandably impressed.

Hammon played 16 seasons in the WNBA, including her final eight in San Antonio, where she led the franchise to its first finals appearance in 2008.

On August 5, 2014, Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich hired Hammon as a full-time assistant making her the first woman in NBA history to hold that position.

Since that time, Hammon continued to accumulate coaching ‘firsts’ in the NBA. On July 3, 2015, she became the first woman to serve as head coach in the NBA’s Summer League where she led the Spurs to the league title.

Less than a year later, Hammon became the first woman to be part of an All-Star coaching staff, and on December 30, 2020, following Popovich’s ejection in San Antonio’s game against Los Angeles, Hammon took over on the bench, becoming the first woman acting head coach in the history of the NBA.

A member of the league’s 15th, 20th and 25th anniversary teams, Hammon went undrafted in 1999 following her All-American career at Colorado State. She signed with New York as a free agent that same year, helping the team to WNBA Finals appearances in three of her first four years in the Big Apple.

The Rapid City, South Dakota native earned her first All-Star nod in 2003, and represented New York on the Eastern Conference squad in 2005 and 2006 as well.

Following the 2006 season, New York traded Hammon to San Antonio. In her first year in silver and black, she posted what were then career highs in scoring (18.8 ppg), and assists (5.0) while earning another trip to the WNBA All-Star Game. As a team, the Silver Stars made their first appearance in the postseason since 2002, falling to Phoenix in the Western Conference Finals.

In 2008, Hammon led San Antonio to its first trip to the WNBA Finals where they fell to Detroit. The Silver Stars made the playoffs in each of her seven full seasons with the team, and Hammon once again was named to the All-Star team in 2009 and 2011.

She retired as the franchise leader in assists per game (5.1) and scoring average (15.6), and the WNBA leader in career free throw percentage (89.7).

Hammon, who was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame on Aug. 12, 2023, was inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in 2022, the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame in 2015 and the San Antonio Sports Hall of Fame in 2018.

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS
Colorado State (1995-99)
All-American 1997, 1998, 1999
NCAA Sweet Sixteen 1999
NCAA Second Round 1996, 1998
WAC Mountain Division Player of the Year 1997-98, 1998-99
WAC Pacific Division Player of the Year 1996-97
WAC Tournament MVP 1996
WAC Freshman of the Year 1995-96
WAC All-Time Leading Scorer 2,740 points, 1995-99
WAC Single-Season Scoring Leader 824 points, 1998-99
WAC Single-Season Made 3-Pointers Leader 114, 1998-99
No. 25 Retired by Colorado State January 22, 2005
Coaching Career (2014-present)
San Antonio Spurs Assistant (NBA) 2014-22
Las Vegas Aces (WNBA) 2022-present
WNBA Coaching Highlights
WNBA Champion 2023, 2022
Coach of the Year 2022
Coach of the Month Sept. 2024, June 2023, May 2022
Commissioner’s Cup Champion 2022
WNBA Career (1999-2014)
New York Liberty 1999-2006
San Antonio Stars 2007-14
WNBA Career Highlights 
All-Star 2003, 2005-07, 2009, 2011
All-WNBA First Team 2007, 2009
All-WNBA Second Team 2005, 2008
WNBA Assists Leader 2007
WNBA 15th Anniversary Team 2011
WNBA 20th Anniversary Team 2016
WNBA 25th Anniversary Team 2021
WNBA Finals 1999, 2000, 2002, 2008
No. 25 Retired by San Antonio June 25, 2016
No. 25 Retired by Las Vegas September 13, 2021
Halls of Fame
Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame 2023
Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame 2022
San Antonio Sports Hall of Fame 2018
Colorado Sports Hall of Fame 2015

 

WNBA HEAD COACH RECORD
TEAM YEAR REG W-L PCT W FIN
POST W-L PCT NOTES
Las Vegas 2022 26-10 .722 1st 8-2 .800 WNBA Champion, Commissioner’s Cup Champion
Las Vegas 2023 34- 6 .850 1st 8-1 .875 WNBA Champion
Las Vegas
2024
27-13
.675
4th
3-3
.500
WNBA Semifinals
Totals 3 Years 87-29 .750 19-6 .760 2 WNBA championships, 1 Commissioner’s Cup championship

 

NBA ASSISTANT COACH RECORD
TEAM YEAR REG W-L PCT CON FIN POST W-L PCT NOTES
San Antonio 2014-15 55-27 .671 6th 3-4 .429 Western Conference First Round
San Antonio 2015-16 67-15 .817 2nd 6-4 .600 Western Conference Semifinals
San Antonio 2016-17 61-21 .744 2nd 8-8 .500 Western Conference Finals
San Antonio 2017-18 47-35 .573 7th 1-4 .250 Western Conference First Round
San Antonio 2018-19 48-34 .585 7th 3-4 .429 Western Conference First Round
San Antonio 2019-20 32-39 .451 11th .-
San Antonio 2020-21 33-39 .458 10th .-
San Antonio 2021-22 34-48 .415 10th .-
Totals 8 Years 377-258 .594   21-24 .467  

 

WNBA STATISTICS
Year Tm G GS MP FG FGA FG% 3P 3PA 3P% 2P 2PA 2P% eFG% FT FTA FT% OR DR REB RPG A S B TO PF PTS PPG
1999 NYL 30 0 202 27 64 .422 11 38 .289 16 26 .615 .508 15 17 .882 2 17 19 0.6 17 6 0 24 27 80 2.7
2000 NYL 32 16 835 119 252 .472 52 141 .369 67 111 .604 .575 61 69 .884 19 45 64 2.0 58 29 1 62 55 351 11.0
2001 NYL 32 0 619 90 197 .457 42 111 .378 48 86 .558 .563 40 51 .784 10 42 52 1.6 51 27 1 48 46 262 8.2
2002 NYL 32 1 659 87 197 .442 44 114 .386 43 83 .518 .553 38 56 .679 18 50 68 2.1 54 25 0 55 49 256 8.0
2003 NYL 11 2 257 50 87 .575 23 49 .469 27 38 .711 .707 39 41 .951 1 20 21 1.9 18 10 1 27 13 162 14.7
2004 NYL 34 34 1130 153 354 .432 57 170 .335 96 184 .522 .513 97 116 .836 17 101 118 3.5 150 58 2 118 73 460 13.5
2005 NYL 34 34 1165 145 336 .432 65 178 .365 80 158 .506 .528 118 131 .901 20 94 114 3.4 146 60 2 107 77 473 13.9
2006 NYL 22 20 674 107 252 .425 37 108 .343 70 144 .486 .498 72 75 .960 6 60 66 3.0 81 29 3 65 46 323 14.7
2007 SAS 28 27 934 179 402 .445 74 183 .404 105 219 .479 .537 95 102 .931 8 69 77 2.8 140 23 5 114 51 527 18.8
2008 SAS 33 33 1101 171 438 .390 77 220 .350 94 218 .431 .478 163 174 .937 13 78 91 2.8 161 43 7 104 60 582 17.6
2009 SAS 31 31 1049 200 447 .447 76 206 .369 124 241 .515 .532 128 142 .901 25 78 103 3.3 156 49 12 111 54 604 19.5
2010 SAS 32 32 1075 159 360 .442 69 177 .390 90 183 .492 .538 97 101 .960 16 77 93 2.9 172 36 8 108 61 484 15.1
2011 SAS 33 33 1050 176 400 .440 75 193 .389 101 207 .488 .534 99 111 .892 5 91 96 2.9 192 49 7 119 51 526 15.9
2012 SAS 33 33 998 160 363 .441 80 184 .435 80 179 .447 .551 85 97 .876 9 74 83 2.5 176 31 6 106 37 485 14.7
2013 SAS 1 1 12 1 3 .333 0 1 .000 1 2 .500 .333 0 0 0 1 1 1.0 1 0 0 3 0 2 2.0
2014 SAS 32 32 784 91 218 .417 47 118 .398 44 100 .440 .525 35 35 1.000 3 42 45 1.4 135 13 4 53 37 264 8.3
Career   450 329 12544 1915 4370 .438 829 2191 .378 1086 2179 .498 .533 1182 1318 .897 172 939 1111 2.5 1708 488 59 1224 737 5841 13.0

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