Becky Hammon is set to interview for the Toronto Raptors’ head-coaching position, sources told ESPN.
In addition to several top NBA assistant coaches, the Raptors gained permission to interview Hammon, the head coach of the Las Vegas Aces. Hammon led the team to a WNBA championship and was named WNBA Coach of the Year in her first season.
“For me, it’s not really about proving other people wrong,” she said in November when asked about the NBA teams that have passed on hiring her in the past. “It’s about proving myself right.”
At the time of her hiring in Las Vegas, Hammon said she was never offered a head-coaching job in the NBA despite interviewing with multiple teams. Many cited her lack of head-coaching experience as a sticking point, an argument Hammon has disputed by referencing the under-qualified men she’s seen filling positions.
“Some guys, there’s multiple examples, they just walk right into a head-coaching position,” she said. “They’ve never coached a day in their life. It’s not that easy. If it is that easy, everybody would be doing it.”
Before making the jump to the WNBA, Hammon spent eight seasons as an assistant coach with the San Antonio Spurs. In total, 16 women have coached in the NBA, and all in assistant coaching positions.
“In some ways, I feel like it could happen in the next one to two years,” Hammon said of a woman becoming an NBA head coach. “In other ways, I’m like, ‘You’re so far off. This is like, 10 to 15 years away.’”