A report earlier in the month indicated that current Las Vegas Aces head coach Becky Hammon was a candidate to replace Nick Nurse as the Toronto Raptors’ head coach.
One of Gregg Popovich’s former top assistants with the San Antonio Spurs (2014-22), Hammon has been a candidate for several NBA head coach openings over the past few cycles. That included her being a finalist for the Portland Trail Blazers’ job prior to them hiring Chauncey Billups back in 2021.
It now doesn’t appear that she’s in a rush to return to the Association. Hammon, 46, never officially interviewed for the Raptors’ opening despite their being informal conversations between the two sides. There’s a good reason for this:
“Ultimately, the sense was the coach of the defending WNBA champions wasn’t in a rush to leave her current role. She is starting a season with a hand-picked team, the richest coaching salary in the history of the league and working for an organization that had just invested $40 million in a world-class practice facility,” Michael Grange from Sportsnet reported recently.
Hammon led the Las Vegas Aces to a 26-10 record during the 2022 regular season after they signed her to a record-breaking WNBA contract. She then led the organization to the title with a win over the Connecticut Sun in the WNBA Finals.
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The entire process that led to Portland choosing Billups over Hammon was a major story around the NBA back in the Summer of 2021. Billups’ lack of any type of coaching experience coupled with a checkered off-court history put this decision in the limelight.
For Hammon, it was seemingly clear throughout the process that she was the organization’s second choice.
“I knew I was second; I knew who they wanted,” Becky Hammon said back in July of 2021. “And I’m OK with that, because every race I’ve gotten into my entire life, I’ve been behind, and I’m OK with that. And that’s just how it is—but at the same time, I’m not ignorant to what I’m going up against.”
Whether the Blazers seriously considered Hammon remains to be seen.
However, she has also been bandied about as a candidate for other openings throughout the past few cycles. Right now, it appears that Hammon is more than happy doing her thing in Sin City with the Aces.
“My happiness is most important … I love being here … I love being back on the women’s side. I don’t need the stamp of approval from the NBA,” Hammon told Time Magazine earlier in July.
At this point, Hammon can probably just wait things out with the Aces until a perfect landing spot emerges in the NBA. If that doesn’t happen, her success leading a juggernaut in the WNBA will suffice.