SAN ANTONIO — Becky Hammon is about to become the first woman to serve as the head coach of an NBA summer league team.
The San Antonio Spurs announced Friday that Hammon, a former Colorado State star, will lead the Spurs during summer league games in Las Vegas. Hammon is entering her second season as an assistant coach for the Spurs.
Spurs video coordinator Will Hardy will handle the head coaching duties for a San Antonio summer league entry in Salt Lake City.
The Spurs will play at least five games in Las Vegas, starting July 11. The Salt Lake City summer league starts Monday.
Hammon became the first full-time paid female NBA assistant coach last season.
“In some ways it is trail- blazing, but there have been so many other women doing great things and I’m just following in their path,” Hammon said after being named a Spurs assistant coach last season.
An all-star in the WNBA, she played eight seasons with the New York Liberty and eight with the San Antonio Stars.
Hammon was an All-America guard at CSU, leading the Rams to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament in 1999. Her No. 25 jersey has been retired and hangs in the rafters at Moby Arena in Fort Collins. She was inducted into the CSU Hall of Fame in 2004.
Hammon won a bronze medal playing for the Russian national team at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.
