Eight years ago, Becky Hammon made history as the first full-time female assistant coach in the NBA. On Monday, she was officially announced as the next head coach of the Las Vegas Aces, three days after signing a five-year deal that will reportedly make her the highest-paid coach in the WNBA.

Hammon’s return to the league might have come as a surprise to those who thought she’d be the first woman to serve as a head coach in the NBA. Since Hammon joined Gregg Popovich’s San Antonio Spurs staff in 2014, six other women now hold assistant coaching jobs in the NBA, including Teresa Weatherspoon, Hammon’s former New York Liberty teammate who is currently with the New Orleans Pelicans.

On Monday, Hammon called NBA jobs “hard to get.”

“In some ways, I feel like the NBA maybe is close,” she said. “In other ways, I feel like they’re a long ways off from hiring [a woman head coach]. I don’t know when it could happen.”

Hammon has interviewed for NBA head coaching jobs on multiple occasions, and said that, in some ways, she feels like she “was very close” to finally landing a head coaching gig. When Aces owner Mark Davis and president Nikki Fargas met with her about the Las Vegas opening, she knew she was ready to lead a basketball team.

“I sat in a lot of head-coaching interviews,” Hammon said. “Two things that people always said: ‘You’ve only been in San Antonio, and you’ve never been a head coach.’ Well, Mark Davis met me. Nikki met me. And they said, ‘That’s a head coach right now.'”

But Hammon isn’t looking at the Aces as a stepping stone. It’s a head coaching job in a major professional sports league, and it’ sa league she spent 16 years playing in — eight with the Liberty and eight with the San Antonio Stars. While she had never closed the door on the WNBA, Hammon said she hadn’t intended to leave the NBA until the Aces pursued her.

“A lot did go into this decision, a lot of sleepless nights,” Hammon said. “I came to the conclusion that this was the best spot for me and my family, and an opportunity for me to sit in the big chair and be a head coach of a major professional sports league.”

Fargas said Hammon made such an impression when the Aces retired her jersey in September that they decided to try to lure her away from San Antonio.

“Being the head coach of the Las Vegas Aces is a step forward and a step in the right direction for myself and for women’s basketball,” Hammon said. “I cannot emphasize enough the importance of this opportunity that I have. There’s something to being a head coach.

“I feel like I’m ready to have my own team. And this is the organization that made it very, very obvious they wanted me really, really bad. And so it’s always good to be wanted.”

She also recognizes how big of a deal it is that more WNBA teams are hiring women. Now, six of 12 teams have female head coaches, with the New York Liberty expected to make it seven when they officially name Sandy Brondello as head coach. The Phoenix Mercury are the only other team with a job opening.

“It matters because representation matters,” Hammon said. “I think once we can start peeling back the layers of society and what is viewed as [a leader], we can start hiring people based on what they bring to the table.

“There are so many great women coaches out there who should be leading their own teams and given those opportunities. We have never had these press conferences when it came to a man leading a women’s team, but there are all these conversations about women leading a men’s team.”

Hammon also wants the narrative between men’s and women’s basketball to change.

“Quite frankly, I’ve been watching the WNBA for a long time and stealing all their plays for a while,” she said. “[WNBA coaches] have great basketball minds, and they are 100 percent invested in what they do, and they are the best at what they do.

Long thought to be Popovich’s replacement when he retires, Hammon now takes over one of the best teams in the WNBA. Bill Laimbeer will remain with the Aces and assist in roster-building during free agency while Hammon finishes out the NBA season with the Spurs. Las Vegas ended 2021 as the second-best team during the regular season before falling to the Mercury in the semifinals.

Just 16 teams remain in the 2024 NCAA volleyball tournament​ after last week's opening rounds, setting the stage for this weekend's four Regional showdowns.

Hosted by the No. 1 seeds (Pitt, Nebraska, Penn State, and Louisville), each four-team mini-tournament will send one squad to next Thursday's national semifinals in Louisville.

Regional action kicks off in the ACC

The Pitt and Louisville Regionals will start the Sweet Sixteen action on Thursday, when the Panthers host No. 7 Missouri, No. 3 Kentucky, and No. 4 Oregon. Louisville helms the evening party, which includes No. 2 Stanford, No. 4 Purdue, and No. 6 Florida.

With Pittsburgh already in full swing, the Wildcats added a third defeat of Missouri to their 2024 tally on Thursday, ousting the Tigers 3-1 and extending their win streak to 14 matches in the process.

About to take the court are two of the nation's best blocking teams, with the overall No. 1 seed Panthers aiming for a repeat of their season-opening sweep of the Ducks.

Thursday night's action starts when Stanford, whose nine NCAA titles dwarf all other Division I programs, takes on a tough Florida side who upset No. 3 Kansas in a gritty five-set thriller last Saturday.

Finally, while no team is immune to upsets at this level, Thursday's closer between Purdue and Louisville is especially vulnerable after the Cardinals barely survived Northern Iowa on Saturday.

The Big Ten begins hosting on Friday

Big Ten courts will serve as the stage for Friday's Regional semifinals, with Penn State hosting No. 2 Creighton, No. 3 Texas, and No. 5 Marquette before Nebraska welcomes No. 2 Wisconsin, No. 5 Dayton, and No. 6 Texas A&M to Cornhusker country.

Friday's opener pits two offensive powerhouses who've swept their way through the NCAA bracket against each other. The Bluejays, who are riding a 24-match win streak, will try to harness that momentum to end the back-to-back defending champs Longhorns' hopes of a three-peat.

Soon after, the Nittany Lions will again defend home court — a feat they've accomplished in every 2024 home match — in Friday's second tilt against the Golden Eagles.

Like Penn State, fellow Big Ten behemoth Wisconsin is likely to emerge victorious from their Regional semifinal, a rematch of the Badgers's September sweep of Texas A&M.

Capping the weekend's first matches is a battle of experience against this year's Cinderella squad. In their 40th Sweet Sixteen appearance, Nebraska's superstar-stacked roster will take on Regional debutants Dayton, who outlasted No. 4 Baylor in five gritty sets to earn the trip. The Flyers boast the fifth-best defense in the country, and they'll need every ounce of it to snap the Huskers' 43-match home win streak.

How to watch the 2024 NCAA volleyball Regionals

Thursday's action is in full swing, and No. 2 Creighton vs. No. 3 Texas will jumpstart Friday's slate at 1 PM ET before Saturday and Sunday each feature a pair of Regional finals.

The full schedule will stream live on ESPN+, with ESPN2 also airing all matches through Saturday.

Sunday's games received a broadcast bump, with the Nebraska Regional final airing at 3 PM ET on ABC and the Penn State-hosted finale taking the 8:30 PM ET slot on ESPN.

The 2027 Women's World Cup has officially claimed its calendar spot, with FIFA announcing Tuesday that the tournament's Brazil-hosted 10th edition — the first-ever in South America — will run from June 24th through July 25th.

"The FIFA Women’s World Cup Brazil 2027 is already taking shape and we can’t wait for the opening match," said FIFA president Gianni Infantino.

Looking to break 2023's record-setting attendance and viewership numbers, Infantino also noted, "This historic tournament will have a massive impact not only in South America, but around the whole world, taking the women's game to the next level in terms of participation and popularity."

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Prepping for the 2027 World Cup qualifiers

The international soccer governing body also allocated the competition's 32 available spots, with CONMEBOL's Brazil earning automatic entry as one of the three slots granted to the continental confederation.

UEFA leads the pool with 11 teams, followed by AFC with six, CAF and Concacaf with four each, and OFC's one.

The final three squads will be determined by a 10-team, two-round play-in tournament taking place in late 2026 and February 2027.

The road to Brazil kicks off in 2025

With details including host cities and venues still to come, the road to the 2027 World Cup is ramping up with qualifying matches looming just around the corner.

Next year's UEFA Nations League play will determine the 11 European teams bound for Brazil, including 2023 world champions Spain. Meanwhile, the path to a fifth star for the world No. 1 USWNT crest begins with Concacaf W Qualifiers in late 2025.

Similarly, 2025 qualifying matches for the 2026 AFC Asian Cup and 2026 Africa Cup of Nations kicks off World Cup entrances for teams in those federations. CONMEBOL will look to the 2025 Copa América tournament to determine the remaining two entrants that will compete alongside host Brazil, while OFC is likely to set their World Cup qualifying matches for next year.

Superstar exits pave the way for new World Cup stars

Both expected and surprise entrants will book their 2027 World Cup spots over the next two years, but the Brazil tournament's sidelines are already set to feature fresh faces after a flood of soccer greats called game in 2024.

The host nation will compete in their first World Cup since 1999 without legendary attacker Marta, whose 17 goals lead the tournament's all-time scoring list.

Canada is suffering the same fate with 2027 marking the first edition in 28 years without leading international goalscorer Christine Sinclair.

Two-time trophy-winners Germany — the only team other than the US with more than one world title — recently bid adieu to star Alexandra Popp, who retired as a four-time World Cup competitor.

As for the USWNT, they'll look to follow their 2024 Olympic gold medal with a 2027 World Cup title, but without star striker Alex Morgan, defender Kelley O'Hara, or goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher, who followed 2023 retirees Megan Rapinoe and Julie Ertz out the door this year.

The fourth-annual FIBA 3×3 AmeriCup tips off Thursday in Puerto Rico,​ with 2022 winners Canada and three-time silver medalists Brazil aiming to dethrone defending three-time champs Team USA.

The US is led by three WNBA standouts. Veteran Mystics guard Brittney Sykes's 12.2 points per game was second on Washington's 2024 roster, while Sparks forward Azurá Stevens is strong on both ends of the court as LA's best three-point shooter also boasts the team's second-best rebound rate.

Meanwhile, Dallas Wings forward Maddy Siegrist is coming off a shooting hot streak, sinking over 50% from the field in her second WNBA season.

Former record-breaking Ivy League sharpshooter Abbey Hsu rounds out Team USA's roster, with the Belgian league rookie​ earning the spot over nine WNBA players.

The road to the 3×3 podium

Fifteen teams traveled to San Juan, Puerto Rico, but only 12 will compete in the tournament's main draw. Thursday's court is reserved for the four teams vying to qualify, with either Guatemala, Cuba, Costa Rica, or the Cayman Islands surviving.

With the 12 tournament teams split into four groups of three, pool play takes over on Friday and Saturday. Pools B (Canada, Mexico, and Jamaica) and D (Puerto Rico, Argentina, and the final qualifying team) will play their round-robin round on Friday. Then, Pools A (USA, Uruguay, and the Dominican Republic) and C (Chile, Brazil, and Colombia) will do the same on Saturday.

The top two teams from each pool will advance to Sunday's knockout rounds. All elimination games will feature on Sunday's court, including the quarterfinals, semifinals, third-place game, and championship showdown.

How to watch Team USA in the 2024 FIBA 3×3AmeriCup

The tournament tips off at 12:30 PM ET on Thursday, but Team USA doesn't feature until Saturday, when they face the Dominican Republic at 3:30 PM ET before taking on Uruguay at 6:35 PM ET.

All FIBA 3×3 AmeriCup games — including Sunday's 8 PM ET championship — will stream live on YouTube.

All 14 NWSL teams issued final​ end-of-year roster decisions on Tuesday, as the 2025 free agency period shifts into full gear.

Athletes who are currently out-of-contract are now technically on the chopping block, faced with either negotiating new terms to return to their teams or taking the leap and brokering a fresh deal elsewhere.

Standouts listed as out-of-contact include 2024 NWSL champion and Orlando Pride captain Marta as well as NC Courage striker and the league's 2023 MVP Kerolin. Several current and former USWNT stars also face offseason negotiations, like Gotham FC forward Midge Purce, Portland Thorns center back Becky Sauerbrunn, and Angel City forward Christen Press.

Multiple teams have already acknowledged an intent to retain top players by announcing ongoing negotiations in their final 2024 roster announcements, with Press, Marta, and Kerolin in talks to stay with their clubs.

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New CBA means more NWSL movement

Under the league's new CBA, when a team declines a player's contract option, that player automatically becomes an unrestricted free agent, guaranteeing roster shakeups despite this year's lack of expansion and college drafts.

Both athletes whose contracts have expired and those whose options have been declined are considered out-of-contract. While those players will be weighing their options on the open market, teams will be doing the same, deciding who to try to retain and who to officially waive.

Clubs will make many of those decisions imminently, as the waiver wire will open and close this week, before the trade window opens again on December 13th.

The league will take a transaction moratorium from December 20th to 27th, after which teams can resume signings.

Between the CBA-induced influx of free agents and the lack of drafts forcing front offices into what could be lengthy recruiting and negotiating processes to attract young talent, the business of building an NWSL roster has become more complicated.

That said, some clubs seem to be capitalizing on the shake-up. After finishing the season in last place, the Houston Dash have already seen significant roster action — including nabbing defender Christen Westphal from San Diego and signing ex-Gotham free agent Delanie Sheehan — setting an aggressive rebuilding example as the NWSL embraces a new era.