The Sacramento Kings made it official that Nancy Lieberman would be joining their coaching staff as an assistant, making her just the second female to ever hold the position on an NBA coaching staff. Lieberman joins Chad Iske, John Welch, Anthony Carter, Corlis Williamson, and Vance Walberg on George Karl’s coaching staff in Sacramento.
For two years, Lieberman served as head coach of the D-League’s Texas Legends before becoming the general manager of the team. She is a two-time college champion, an Olympian, and a member of the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. Technically, Lieberman is following the footsteps of San Antonio Spurs assistant Becky Hammon, who became the first female NBA assistant last season and just coached the Spurs to a Summer League championship.
Lieberman pays homage to Hammon, via David Aldridge of NBA.com:
That said, if Becky doesn’t coach in the Summer League, and win, you and I might not be doing this interview, whether I’m qualified or not. And I know I’m qualified.
Sometimes it takes something no one was expecting to put the shine on where it needs to be. I don’t mind being Larry Doby (the second African-American player to break the color barrier in Major League Baseball, with the Cleveland Indians in July, 1947, 11 weeks after Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier with the Brooklyn Dodgers), quite honestly. It was never about just Becky, and it never was about just me. If it was, then that’s a selfish act. Look at all the African-American players who played baseball after Jackie. That’s the true essence of success. For Branch Rickey, what he and Jackie did was profound. So what Pop and Becky did, whatever the timing, was profound. Now I have been afforded an opportunity to do what I love and what I’ve been groomed to do my whole life, and it opened up a lot of coaches’ eyes. I’m not going to say you’re going to see Noah’s Ark, with women, you know, coaching, coming, into the league. You have to earn the right, and the relationships are very, very important. Nobody gets hired by what it says on a resume. You get hired by the relationships, and proving that you have the wherewithal. I’m thrilled for her. Quite frankly, I’m thrilled for me.
In all fairness, it was reported months ago that George Karl would be considering Nancy Lieberman as an assistant, long before Hammon would be chosen to coach the Spurs’ summer league team. Still, you can’t undermine her gratitude.
Hammon reaching such popular and respected success so quickly is an incredible benchmark for females coaching in the NBA. She didn’t literally pave the way for Lieberman because she was more than qualified having coached in both the women’s and men’s game before. Now she is the latest to have “earned the right” and will serve as yet another trail blazer for female coaches on NBA sidelines.
