San Antonio Express-News (Sunday)
Hammon led ‘wounded’ Aces to second straight title
Former Spurs assistant coach guided Las Vegas through controversy, injuries
When Becky Hammon received an offer in December 2021 to leave the Spurs to coach the WNBA’s Las Vegas Aces, she sat down with Gregg Popovich to talk over the pros and cons of the situation.
High on her list of reasons to take the job: She saw something special in the Aces.
“I really think I can win with this group,” she told Popovich. “I think we can win it all.”
Hammon was correct.
Twice.
For guiding the Aces to their second consecutive championship, a feat that had not been accomplished in the WNBA since the Los Angeles Sparks pulled it off in 2001-2002, Hammon has been named the Express-News’ 2023 Sportswoman of the Year.
Hammon accepted the job after spending eight seasons as a pioneering assistant coach with the Spurs following her 16-year WNBA career, which included spending the final eight seasons playing point guard for the San Antonio Silver Stars. The team was sold to MGM Resorts International in 2017 and became the Las Vegas Aces in 2018.
“It is always nice to get that hometown love and to not be forgotten,” Hammon said of being named Sportswoman of the Year. “I appreciate the honor.”
Led by Finals MVP A’ja Wilson’s 24-point, 16-rebound double-double, the Aces edged the New York Liberty 70-69 on Oct. 18 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn to seal a 3-1 victory in the Finals.
In Hammon’s first season with the Aces and her first season as a head coach, the Aces bested the Connecti
cut Sun in four games in 2022 for the franchise's first crown. While that championship run included plenty of challenges, the repeat was even tougher as controversy marred the first half of the season and injuries later threatened to ruin it.
“It was extremely hard this year,” Hammon said.
It all began with the WNBA suspending Hammon in May for two games without pay after an investigation into allegations that a player was bullied for being pregnant.
The ruling resulted from a lengthy investigation into the team stemming from comments allegedly made to former Las Vegas forward Dearica Hamby about her pregnancy.
Hamby said she was “bullied” and “manipulated” by the Aces after she became pregnant with her second child. The twotime all-star had signed a multiyear contract extension with the club in June 2022.
After the Aces won their first title, Hamby said she was expecting her second child, and the team allegedly claimed she “didn't hold up my end of the bargain” because of her pregnancy. In January, the Aces traded Hamby and a 2024 firstround pick to the Los Angeles Sparks.
Hammon refuted Hamby's claims, and the Aces issued a statement supporting her.
“The WNBA's determinations about Becky Hammon are inconsistent with what we know and love about her,” the statement said. “Becky is a caring human being who forges close personal relationship with her players. We stand by Coach Hammon.”
In October, Hamby filed a gender discrimination complaint with the Nevada Equal Rights Commission and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission against the WNBA and the Aces, saying her former team and Hammon retaliated against her after she told it she was pregnant.
The Aces and Hammon have declined to comment.
Then there were the injuries, beginning with a back ailment that prevented Riquna Williams, a key part of the team's title run in 2022, from suiting up. She was still out when the Aces barred her from the team after her arrest on July 25 on felony domestic violence charges involving a person authorities identified as her spouse.
Around that same time, the Aces' marquee offseason acquisition, two-time WNBA MVP Candace Parker, underwent foot surgery that prevented her from playing in the second half of the season. Despite that setback, the Aces still managed to finish the regular season 34-6 to surpass the 2014 Phoenix Mercury (29-5) for the most wins in WNBA history.
In the postseason, Las Vegas swept the Chicago Sky 2-0 and the Dallas Wings 3-0 to set up the matchup with the Liberty and league MVP Breanna Stewart. Things were going well for the Aces until they lost Game 3, a defeat made even worse by the loss of 2022 Finals MVP Chelsea Gray and defensive specialist Kiah Stokes to foot injuries that sidelined them for Game 4.
“We were never whole the whole year,” Hammon said. “(By Game 3 of the Finals) we were like wounded warriors at that point trying to get through a game.”
But Hammon said her faith in the Aces never diminished, knowing the competitive fire of players like Wilson, Kelsey Plum and several other core members of the team.
“When you have those kind of competitors, you believe you can win,” Hammon said. “And I just also believed in the work we had put in. In a season where a lot of things didn't go our way, we were incredibly successful because of the work we all put in.”
Before the season got under way, Hammon had challenged the Aces to improve defensively after finishing the 2022 campaign as an offensive juggernaut with middle-of-the-pack defensive numbers.
The Aces responded by finishing the regular season first in the 12-team WNBA in defensive rating (99.2) and second in opponents' points per game (80.3) after finishing 2022 sixth in defensive rating (104.0) and ninth in opponents' points per game (84.1)
“I told them we have to improve defensively, we have to be in the top three defensively this year,” Hammon said. “There were a lot of things I challenged them on and they stepped up and answered the call every time.”
Hammon said she and her players have “developed a great rapport” through their two championship seasons.
“Because of their work ethic and who they are as people, you sign up to go to battle with them,” she said. “Having watched them and gotten to know them as people, I am in the bunker with them through whatever, basketball, life. They are just really phenomenal people, and it makes it fun to come to work every day because they are not only great basketball players but great people.”
Aces forward Alysha Clark, a 12-year veteran, said she appreciates how Hammon challenged her and her teammates to reach another level in 2023.
“We have amazing players on this team and everybody is great within their own right, but she's like, ‘I know you have another level you can get to,' “Clark said. “So, it's not only encouraging what you are already good at but also encouraging you like, ‘Hey, I see so much more for you. Go get it.' “
In addition to winning another title, 2023 was special for Hammon, 46, because of her induction as a player into the Pro Basketball Hall of Fame in a class that included Popovich, who hired her in 2014 as the first woman to hold a full-time assistant job in the NBA; former Spurs point guard Tony Parker, who she considers a close friend; and Pau Gasol, who she helped coach when he spent two-plus seasons with the Spurs toward the end of his career.
At the ceremony in Springfield, Mass., Hammon she got emotional, thanking Popovich and also her wife, Brenda, and their two children. She also has plenty of love for her adopted hometown.
“San Antonio has become home,” she said. “It's the place I have spent the majority of my adult life. And honestly I have been there longer than any other place. I left home (in South Dakota) when I was 18 (to play at Colorado State). I have been in San Antonio since 2007.”
Considering how well things are going for her, Hammon said she has to pinch herself “every day” over how “blessed” she is.
“I say that every day because that is exactly how I feel,” she said. “A lot of people have invested a lot of time in me both as a player and as a coach, with Pop obviously being a main contributing influence. And then me being a leader with this group of women. I am always trying to make investments in their lives, not only as basketball players but as people.”