Becky Hammon says she's been stealing WNBA coaches' plays to use in NBA games 'for a while'

• Becky Hammon has spent 8 years as an assistant coach for the NBA's San Antonio Spurs.
• She was hired as head coach and GM of the WNBA's Las Vegas Aces ahead of the 2022 season.

Becky Hammon has long been considered one of the strongest coaching prospects in professional basketball.

The longtime NBA assistant coach — who signed a record-breaking deal to become the head coach and general manager of the Las Vegas Aces ahead of the 2022 WNBA season — said she's been taking notes from WNBA coaches and using their plans in NBA games "for a while."

"Quite frankly, I've been watching the WNBA for a long time and stealing all their plays for a while," Hammon said during her Aces introductory press conference on Monday.

After years as the frontrunner to become the first woman head coach in major pro men's sports, Hammon shocked many fans with her pivot from the NBA to the WNBA. But the eight-year San Antonio Spurs assistant under legendary head coach Gregg Popovich stressed that the move "is a step forward and a step in the right direction for [herself], for women's basketball," and for her personal growth as a coach.

Besides, some of basketball's greatest coaches already reside in the W, according to Hammon. She name-dropped four-time WNBA champion and Minnesota Lynx head coach Cheryl Reeve as well as newly-minted New York Liberty head coach Sandy Brondello — who previously spent eight years leading the Phoenix Mercury — as two of the best in the business.

"I mean, these are quality coaches, period," Hammon said. "Take off any other label. They are great coaches, period. They have great basketball minds."

"And they are a hundred percent invested in what they do," she added. "And they are the best at what they do, and they should be paid as such, and they should be rewarded with these positions as such."

Hammon suggested that she believes coaches like herself, Brondello, Reeve, and others are often overlooked in coaching spheres because of their gender. She noted that while a woman coaching men's college or professional basketball is unprecedented, "we have never had these press conferences when it came to a man leading a woman's team."

She hopes her move to the WNBA will play a part in helping women in coaching gain the respect they've long deserved.

"Representation matters, right?" Hammon said. "It's important that we start to see leaders as leaders."

"We can start peeling back the layers of society and what is viewed as [a leader] ... and start hiring people based on what they bring to the table — based [on] their basketball knowledge," she added. "I mean, there's so many great women coaches out there that should be leading their own teams and given those opportunities."

Hammon is expected to transition to her new WNBA role in Las Vegas full-time in April. But until then, she'll be "pulling double duty" as she rounds out her tenure with the Spurs and ramps up her duties with the Aces.

In the meantime, keep a close eye on the Spurs. You may just see a WNBA play or two make an appearance on the court.