Becky Hammon already staked her claim as one of the top coaches in the WNBA when she led the Aces to back-to-back titles in her first two seasons as the team’s head coach—her first two seasons as a head coach period. Few coaches win championships in their first season with a new team. Even fewer do it as a rookie head coach.
This year’s eventful Aces run further highlighted Hammon’s brilliance. She led the Aces to one of the most impressive turnarounds of the season. The team went from sitting at the bottom of the playoff standings to the second seed and a third championship. Hammon is now one of only a handful of WNBA coaches who have won at least three titles. The others are Bill Laimbeer, who led the Detroit Shock to three titles in the early 2000s, the Lynx’s Cheryl Reeve, and Van Chancellor, who coached the Houston Comets.
Hammon is also beloved and respected by her players. In her exit interview, NaLyssa Smith spoke about what makes Hammon such a great coach.
“She [Becky Hammon] just has a great balance of knowing how to push her players and then just always motivating you and always telling you all the positive things,” Smith told reporters. “I think, sometimes, a lot of coaches, they forget that you have to have that balance, or you’ll lose your players. Becky does a tremendous job always just building everybody up regardless of the situation.”
Hammon was clearly the Aces’ X-Factor in the finals
The Aces faced some challenges in the first two playoff rounds. The Storm had a lot more size in the frontcourt than most other teams, and the Fever just refused to give up despite a plethora of injuries. In the finals, the Aces clearly had the upper hand, winning four straight games. Hammon and her coaching were a big reason for that.
Her ability to make adjustments in games and between matchups made all the difference for the Aces. In Game 1, switching to a zone defense completely threw off the Mercury’s offense and secured an important first win. In Game 3, Hammon pulled out a box-and-one on Phoenix star Kahleah Copper—a surprising but genius move given how rare that coverage is in the WNBA. It worked well to throw off the Mercury and to have the Aces play engaged early on and avoid the kind of slow start they got off to in the first two games.
Hammon’s experience of coaching at the highest level and playing in the WNBA for over a decade clearly gave her an edge over Nate Tibbetts. Tibbetts did a phenomenal job with the Mercury, but this was only his second season as a WNBA head coach and the first year that his team went on a deep playoff run.
NaLyssa Smith obviously feels at home with the Aces
Smith started her WNBA career with the Fever, coming in as a top pick. When the team also landed Aliyah Boston and Caitlin Clark, Smith quickly became the odd one out and was eventually traded to Dallas. She found no success with the struggling Wings, who traded her to the Aces in the middle of the season. After a few games with Las Vegas, it became obvious that the trade had been a blessing. Smith has often talked about how joining the Aces and playing with stars like A’ja Wilson and being coached by Hammon was the best thing for her career.