No one was out of the reach of Becky Hammon on the way to the Hall of
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Coach Becky Hammon always knows what to say in the Las Vegas Aces’ huddles. But recently she’s been at a loss for words when it comes to her upcoming speech for her induction into the Naismith Hall of Fame on Saturday in Springfield, Massachusetts.
“I’ve basically had writer’s block,” Hammon said, chuckling. “I do a lot of speeches in the offseason. I write long speeches even though I don’t want to hear myself talk that long. This is only going to be a five- or six-minute speech, but it’s been really hard to articulate what the game has meant to me.”
There are many connections Hammon has to other members of the 2023 class. She was an assistant from 2014 to 2022 to Gregg Popovich with the San Antonio Spurs, where she coached Tony Parker and coached against Pau Gasol, Dirk Nowitzki and Dwyane Wade. All five men will go into the Hall of Fame with her.
So will longtime women’s college coach Gary Blair, who finished his career in 2022 with the Texas A&M Aggies, whom he led to the 2011 NCAA title. During her Colorado State Rams playing career from 1995 to 1999, Hammon didn’t face Blair, then coach of the Arkansas Razorbacks. One of Hammon’s presenters at the Hall of Fame, her former New York Liberty teammate Teresa Weatherspoon, is also presenting Blair.
Even the induction of the 1976 U.S. Olympic women’s basketball team has a loose link to Hammon, because she went a different route when she realized she wasn’t going to get a spot on the United States team during her career. Instead, she played in the 2008 and 2012 Summer Olympics for Russia, having obtained dual citizenship during her time competing overseas in that country.
Because her playing career lasted so long — she spent 16 years in the WNBA, split between New York…
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