WNBA star Candice Dupree is joining the NBA’s San Antonio Spurs as an assistant coach, the team announced Friday.
Candice Dupree has been hired as an assistant coach on the San Antonio Spurs.
— Just Women’s Sports (@justwsports) September 23, 2022
Dupree was a 7x WNBA All-Star and won a title with the Pheonix Mercury in 2014. pic.twitter.com/lZhI7QtyYq
Dupree spent 16 years in the WNBA, was a seven-time All-Star and won the 2014 championship with the Phoenix Mercury. The 38-year-old boasted a career average of 14 points, 6.4 rebounds and 1.8 assists, ranking fourth in WNBA career points and sixth in career rebounds.
The former WNBA All-Star participated in the NBA Assistant Coaches Program (ACP), created to expand the player-to-coach pipeline.
Dupree has said she looks up to Ervin Monier, who coached her during her tenure at Temple from 2002-2006, and South Carolina coach Dawn Staley.
“You’re starting to see a lot of women that are breaking into the NBA ranks and so they’re just like, ‘soak up as much as you can,’” Dupree told The Next of Ervin and Staley.
Dupree’s hiring comes after Becky Hammon left Gregg Popovich’s Spurs program to take over as the head coach of the WNBA’s Las Vegas Aces, winning the league championship in her inaugural campaign.
Dupree becomes the 10th WNBA player to serve as an assistant in the NBA and joins five other women as active coaches in the NBA.
The Seattle storm announced on Friday that the team had waived veteran forward Candice Dupree.
ROSTER UPDATE: The Storm has waived forward Candice Dupree.
— Seattle Storm PR (@SeattleStormPR) July 2, 2021
📰: https://t.co/laqy5O7yKr pic.twitter.com/MeqnokAeBS
Dupree has had a storied 16-year WNBA career, ranking second in all-time games played at 484. The veteran guard is also fourth all-time in scoring, with 6,822 career points.
In her 16 games with the Storm, Dupree averaged 5.9 points and 2.5 rebounds per game. Dupree was initially drafted to Chicago in 2006 and has played for Phoenix and Indiana before signing with Seattle for the 2021 season.