NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has admitted he would be “hugely disappointed” if the league does not hire its first female coach in the next five years.
Silver reiterated this hope to Bonnie Bernstein in a podcast focused on the impact of Title IX on college sports.
He thinks a women-led NBA team is long overdue and believes modern male athletes are better equipped for that change, as many have mothers who played high-level basketball.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has admitted he would be “hugely disappointed” if the league does not hire its first female coach in the next five years.
“This coming generation grew up differently and has a different sensitivity to the roles that men and women can play in the workforce,” Silver said. “I’ve said this before, as much as professional sports have led and the WNBA and NBA have led in certain areas, we’re a little behind in this area.
“We should have more female head coaches,” she continued. ‘We should have a head coach right now. We should have more female referees, and it’s something we’re working very hard on right now.”
Seven assistant coaches have been hired by NBA teams in recent years, not to mention Indiana Pacers executive Kelly Krauskopf, who became the league’s first assistant general manager in 2018.
Silver specifically named Becky Hammon (pictured) as a potential candidate to lead an NBA team, given her years of experience as an assistant for the San Antonio Spurs before leading the Las Vegas Aces to their first WNBA title last night. last season.
Silver specifically named Becky Hammon as a potential candidate to lead an NBA team, given her years of experience as an assistant for the San Antonio Spurs before guiding the Las Vegas Aces to their first WNBA title last season.
Bernstein later said receiving sports that she views Silver’s voice as uniquely important in the area of gender equality in athletics.
“For as long as I’ve known him, going back more than 20 years through his time at NBA Entertainment, Adam has been a proponent of having women in key leadership positions,” he said. “While he’s obviously not dictating coaching hires or officiating recruits, his voice carries an extraordinary amount of weight.
‘Not only does it move the needle in basketball circles, but it influences all sports. So for him to be as eloquent as he was about the NBA being after the eight ball when it comes to women in coaching and officiating, that’s an incredibly powerful statement.
Los Vegas Raiders owner and managing partner and owner of the Las Vegas Aces Mark Davis (L) and head coach Becky Hammon of the Aces are introduced during the team’s WNBA championship victory parade and rally on the Las Vegas Strip on September 20, 2022 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Aces defeated the Connecticut Sun on Sunday in Game Four of the 2022 WNBA Playoff Finals to win the 2022 title.
