AFP/Sacramento
The Sacramento Kings have become the latest NBA team to hire a woman as an assistant coach, appointing Hall of Famer Nancy Lieberman to work alongside head coach George Karl, it was confirmed Friday.
Lieberman will be the only second female assistant coach with an NBA team following the appointment of Becky Hammon at the San Antonio Spurs last year. The 57-year-old said on Twitter late Thursday she was “honoured to be a Sacramento King” ahead of a formal announcement expected next week.
“Definitely I’m going to offer her a job,” Kings vice president Vlade Divac said.
“George (Karl) and I talked about bringing her back after she helped us at summer league (in Las Vegas). She was terrific. She brings a different dimension. I think is a nice opportunity for her.”
Lieberman’s appointment comes after the success of Hammon, who became part of Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich’s staff last year. Hammon recently became the first woman to coach an NBA summer league team, steering the Spurs to the Las Vegas league title. On Monday, meanwhile, Jen Welter, a former collegiate rugby player who played 14 seasons of professional gridiron, was named as the first woman coach in the NFL after being appointed to an intern position with the Arizona Cardinals.
Speaking to USA Today on Friday, Lieberman said she was delighted to have been handed the opportunity, praising the “open-minded” thinking which led to her appointment. “I’m proud to see people are open-minded,” Lieberman said.
“But a lot of these guys have daughters and nieces, and it didn’t start with us. We have a woman running for president. Hillary Clinton is running for president. “Change is hard for people, and our job is to make it normal. I know I’m a woman coaching in a man’s world. It’s normal to me. It’s maybe not normal to other people. This is who I’ve been my whole life. Everybody else puts the labels on. I’m just trying to be a coach.”
Team World win first NBA match in Africa
National Basketball Association (NBA) stars played in Africa for the first time Saturday with a stirring final-quarter comeback giving Team World a 101-97 victory over Team Africa in Johannesburg.
Team Africa included NBA players from Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria, Senegal and South Sudan and they made the running against opposition consisting largely of American-born stars.
The African selection led 30-17 after the first quarter, 56-38 at half-time and 77-62 after three quarters of the 40-minute exhibition match.
But a string of three-point field goals early in the final quarter from Washington Wizards’ Bradley Beal and Memphis Grizzlies’ Jeff Green changed the course of the game.
NBA commissioner Adam Silver, who attended the historic match, said “it was only a matter of time before a pre-season game was staged in Africa”. A push to extend the sport beyond the United States has seen NBA activity in Europe, Brazil and China.
