NBA coach makes sports history

The San Antonio Spurs are making history along with the first woman NBA coach, Becky Hammon, for an NBA regular-season game. Hammon acts as an assistant coach for the Spurs and she had to fill in for head coach, Gregg Popovich, after being ejected during the first half of the game against the Los Angeles Lakers.

Popovich was warned with a technical foul and was ejected from the game with 3:56 remaining in the second quarter after arguing with a referee over a no-call on his team. At this point in the game, the Spurs were trailing the Lakers with a score of 52-41.

Becky Hammon took over head coaching duties for the Spurs after Pop was ejected.

She is the first woman to serve as head coach in an NBA game. pic.twitter.com/Cp8r0Sj0w3

— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) December 31, 2020

The three-time coach of the year winner passed his duties to Hammon on the way to the locker room following the ejection from the game. Hammon was one of the team members to recover on the court after the ejection of the head coach.

Hammon says that she was excited for the opportunity since transferring to the Spurs in 2007 being closely involved with the team for 13 years. Hammon has previous experience as a six-time All-Star in the WNBA with the San Antonio Silver Stars and the New York Liberty.

The history-making coach was acknowledged by a history-making political figure Vice President-elect Kamala Harris tweeting, “Congrats, @BeckyHammon. You may be the first, but I know you certainly won’t be the last.” Hammon acknowledges her achievement of pushing gender norms for women working in men’s professional sports.