Rumors

Despite her previous ties to the Spurs organization, Hammon is quite content in the WNBA. "I'm super happy where I am," Hammon said. "This opportunity for me, I couldn't pass on it. ... I bet on myself instead of maybe waiting it out for a maybe [in the NBA]. I've enjoyed being back on the women's side. You guys know I'm effusive about my love for this team and being back in the women's game."

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Natalie Nakase knew she had the opportunity of a lifetime. After years of serving as an assistant coach — in the G League, NBA, and ultimately the WNBA — she had finally achieved a longtime dream of leading her own team. At last, the 44-year-old former UCLA point guard would be a head coach, selected to lead the WNBA’s incoming expansion team, the Golden State Valkyries. Nakase, who was previously an assistant coach for the Los Angeles Clippers (2018-2020) and Las Vegas Aces (2022-24), has no shortage of experience on the bench. Under Clippers coach Ty Lue, she earned the respect of dozens of NBA players. Under the leadership of Becky Hammon, she won two WNBA championships alongside some of the best players in the sport. To this day, she credits Hammon for helping shape the WNBA into the league it is today — and for giving her a career-altering opportunity. Still, in the wake of her hiring in Golden State, there was someone else in the coaching world Nakase was eager to get to know: Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla, who just a few months earlier had become the youngest head coach in the NBA to win a championship since Bill Russell did so in 1968 at age 34.

SB Nation

“My biggest thing was: how can I pick the brains of head coaches that win quickly?” Nakase told SB Nation in an exclusive interview. Nakase and Mazzulla had never met. But, the two shared a common background; both were undersized, tenacious guards on elite college basketball teams, Mazzulla at West Virginia (2006-2011) and Nakase at UCLA (1998-2003). Both later rose through the ranks in the G League. A close mutual friend also bound the two coaches: Celtics assistant coach Sam Cassell, who previously worked alongside Nakase on the Clippers.

SB Nation

From the moment Nakase met the Celtics’ head coach, his generosity struck her. “He was like, ‘What do you want to know? What questions do you have for me?’” Nakase recalled. “I’m like, ‘Are you for real? Like, aren’t you in-season?’ And he was like, ‘I got time.’” She was also struck by what she described as his “radical honesty” — whatever questions she had for him in those first few hours, he answered candidly, irrespective of how his answers might come off. “[He was] like, ‘this is me, this is who I am, and take it however you want,’” Nakase said. “And I think it’s kind of his mentality, right? Like, win-or-die.” Mazzulla provided blunt, honest answers to all of Nakase’s inquiries. As such, when she asked him about his playing career, he answered plainly: “I sucked.”

SB Nation

After the Las Vegas Aces lost three games in a row for the first time in five years, coach Becky Hammon got a phone call. It was her former boss, San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich. "It's funny because we always had an ongoing joke in San Antonio [that] when we would lose, nobody would text, nobody would call," Hammon said. "So I picked up the phone and he's like, 'Hi, how you doing? Just calling to make you laugh, because I know nobody's calling.'"

ESPN

The Aces bounced back with a 103-99 win over the Phoenix Mercury on Thursday before taking on the Liberty. Hammon said Popovich's phone call helped. "He made me laugh; mission accomplished," she said. "It's true, nobody calls you when you're doing terrible. So that was the point of his call. Just to check on where I was mentally. And then we just talked about some different buttons to push. He's always a phone call away, I know."

ESPN

Kristian Winfield: Asked Tom Thibodeau about Becky Hammon’s comments on Jalen Brunson: “They’re paid for their opinions, so it’s just a bunch of chatter. The only thing that matters is what we think.” More to come

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Michael McCarthy: NEWS: ESPN's NBA studio analysts this year will include Andre Iguodala, ex Knicks GM Scott Perry, Austin Rivers, Stephanie White and Becky Hammon, said David Roberts on a press call.

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Richard Deitsch: ESPN says that Becky Hammon has signed to be a studio analyst with them this season. You will see her on NBA studio shows.

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Julia Poe: DeMar DeRozan gave Becky Hammon her flowers after leading the Las Vegas Aces to back-to-back WNBA championships. “I had no doubt when she went into coaching, she was going to try to dominate.” pic.twitter.com/YbpGT5yoI7

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Jorge Sierra: Gregg Popovich says he thought about getting ejected so he could watch Becky Hammon win the WNBA title: "It was exactly the same time. But I just thought this has to be my priority. But it was close. It was close." pic.twitter.com/PwaV2ztvzb

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Tom Orsborn: Pop said he considered trying to get ejected from Wednesday’s preseason game with the Houston Rockets so he could watch the television broadcast of Becky Hammon coaching the Las Vegas Aces in Game 4 of the WNBA Finals. expressnews.com/sports/spurs/a…

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Mike Finger: Becky Hammon to Popovich, with tears in both's eyes: "“I know you weren’t trying to be courageous when you hired me. But you did do something no one else in professional sports had ever done. ... You changed the trajectory of my life, and that of so many other women and girls."

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Tim Bontemps: Gregg Popovich when asked about Becky Hammon: "Where is she? She's not even here!" (Hammon and the Aces have a game tonight. She'll be attending tomorrow). Popovich said he's "in love" with Hammon, and first noticed her as a player before inviting her to be on his staff.

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