The WNBA craze has been high in the past few days in the NBA community. The much-anticipated Finals series between the New York Liberty and the Las Vegas Aces captivated even the San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich. Coach Pop is a great admirer and former colleague of 6x WNBA All-Star and current Las Vegas Aces head coach Becky Hammon.
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A r/NBA post recently highlighted the fact that Popovich was ready to excuse himself from the Spurs’ pre-season game to witness Game 4 of the WNBA Finals series. To do so, Coach Pop also considered defying his brand new $80,000,000 contract with the Spurs by getting himself ejected from the recently concluded preseason game against the Houston Rockets.
Becky Hammon started her coaching career with the San Antonio Spurs in the NBA as a part of Coach Pop’s team. Hammon served as an assistant coach for the Spurs and even made history as the NBA’s first female acting head coach, serving as an interim in Coach Pop’s absence.
Gregg Popovich was ready to get himself ejected to watch Becky Hammon’s Aces in the WNBA Finals
The Las Vegas Aces and the New York Liberty’s anticipated Finals series was a proud moment for Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich. He was keen to witness his former assistant coach, Becky Hammon, leading a talented and star-studded Aces team in the series.
Of course, Coach Pop was eager to watch Hammon flourish in the Finals. And in order to do so, Popovich was ready to excuse himself from the Spurs’ ongoing pre-season game. A wild claim has been making rounds on the r/NBA subreddit, which explains the excitement of Coach Pop to watch Becky Hammon coaching the Aces in Game 4 of the WNBA Finals.
The claim on Reddit reports a tweet from Tom Orsborn, which claimed that Coach Pop was considering getting ejected during the preseason game against the Houston Rockets. “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,” Osborn tweeted.
Coach Popovich is currently on a $80,000,000 contract, which he recently signed with the Spurs, binding him for five more years with the franchise. This deal will earn Pop around $16,000,000 annually. According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, this deal practically resets the standards of the coaching market, since Monty Williams recently signed a six-year, $78,500,000 deal with the Detroit Pistons.
Becky Hammon eventually proved her coaching potential after winning the WNBA Championship for a second time with the Las Vegas Aces. We can guess how happy Coach Pop is right now
Becky Hammon has created history with her coaching career in the NBA
Becky Hammon herself had an incredible career as a WNBA player until her retirement in 2012. In 2014, Hammon signed up to serve as an assistant coach in Pop’s Spurs coaching team. That’s when the 6x WNBA All-Star created history by becoming the first female acting head coach in the league’s history.
This year, Hammon was also inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame for her incredible 13 seasons in the WNBA. In her induction speech, Hammon thanked her fellow Spurs colleagues and coach Pop for guiding her to this significant achievement. Surely, her time in San Antonio, greatly shaped her personality and potential in the basketball fraternity.
