Becky Hammon, American-Russian basketball player and coach
Rebecca Lynn Hammon (born March 11, 1977) is an American-Russian professional basketball coach and former player who is the head coach of the Las Vegas Aces of the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA). She currently also serves as an assistant coach for the San Antonio Spurs of the National Basketball Association (NBA). A three-time All-American basketball player for the Colorado State Rams, Hammon went on to play for the San Antonio Stars and New York Liberty of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) and for several other teams outside the United States. Hammon, who was born and raised in the United States, became a naturalized Russian citizen in 2008 and represented the Russian national team in the 2008 and 2012 Olympics.Hammon was hired by the San Antonio Spurs as an assistant coach in 2014. She became the second female assistant coach and the first female full-time assistant coach in NBA history. Hammon is also the first full-time female assistant coach in any of the four major professional sports in North America. Hammon served as the team's Summer League head coach in 2015; she is the first woman to be a head coach in that league. On December 30, 2020, Hammon became the first female acting head coach in NBA history after Spurs' head coach Gregg Popovich was ejected during a game against the Los Angeles Lakers. A year later in December, 2021, she was hired by the Las Vegas Aces to be their head coach. Hammon previously played for the Aces from 2007-2014 when the team played in San Antonio and was known as the Stars, and has her number retired by the organization.