By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
With four minutes to go in the first half of the game between the San Antonio Spurs and the Los Angeles Lakers, Gregg Popovich was ejected with a second technical foul.
The one to cover for Popovich after he made his way to the locker room was his assistant Becky Hammon. And by doing that, she made some history as the first woman ever to direct a team during an NBA regular season game.
“Obviously, it’s a big deal,” Hammon said. “It’s a substantial moment. I’ve been a part of this organization, I got traded here in 2007, so I’ve been in San Antonio and part of the Spurs and sports organization with the Stars and everything for 13 years. So I have a lot of time invested, and they have a lot of time invested in me, in building me and getting me better.”
The moment 43-year-old Hammon realized that she will take over the team for the rest of the game officially came when Pop pointed at her to tell her that the squad is hers now.
“[Popovich] Said, ‘You got ’em,’ and that was it. Very Pop-like,” Hammon said. Spurs players highly commended the job she did.
“You don’t think twice about it. She’s one of us. When she speaks, we are all ears,” DeMar DeRozan said.
After the win of the Lakers, Lebron James said that he expected her to take that opportunity given her work with the Spurs. Hammon has been an assistant on the team since 2014.
“She’s been putting in the work, and any time you put in the work you get rewarded with opportunities,” James mentioned. “Tonight was a case where she got to step in and show her work, show her talents and her love for the game, and obviously, what she did as a player, first of all, we all know that. So her mind was able to transfer to our league, and she’s been great ever since she got in.”