After two disappointing seasons, the Los Angeles Sparks parted ways with head coach Lynne Roberts. The franchise has plenty of great options to choose from. For example, Indiana Fever assistant coach Briann January could finally build a strong defensive identity around Cameron Brink.
But the Sparks might not even have to go that far. Lindsey Harding is already in LA as an assistant coach for the Los Angeles Lakers, and she checks every box the Sparks could ask for. She played several seasons in the WNBA, including a stint with the Sparks, has NBA assistant coaching experience, and spent a season as a head coach in the NBA G League. She is the first woman to be named NBA G League Coach of the Year.
Harding is one of the many assistant coaches in the NBA and WNBA who are ready for a head coaching job—and with the Sparks, Harding would have time to ease herself back into the WNBA after spending so much time in the NBA and to learn to be a head coach without much pressure to win immediately. After their failed Kelsey Plum experiment, the Sparks should have learned their lesson. They need a proper rebuild. So, unlike the New York Liberty, they don’t have to find an experienced and proven head coach right away.
The interest might not be as mutual as it would seem
Landing a WNBA head coaching job would be a big step for Harding. But it might not be exactly the big step she is hoping to take in her coaching career.
“The Liberty called her last year and she took the call and everything, but I had an opportunity to talk to her, and I just got the sense that she really wants to break that class ceiling as the first woman head coach in the NBA,” the New York Post’s Madeline Kennedy said on the Ringer WNBA Show about Harding.
If that is the case, Harding’s interest in a WNBA head coaching position will depend entirely on whether she believes it will help her get attention in the NBA coaching carousel.
Either way, it’s about time that a woman lands a head coaching position in the NBA. There are plenty of women who are just as qualified or even more so than the men coaching in the NBA, and why shouldn’t Harding be the one to make history? Seeing a former WNBA player make that jump would be great for the league, even if it costs teams like the Sparks or Liberty a potentially great head coach.
Add us as a preferred source on Google