SAN FRANCISCO — Basketball Hall of Famer Nancy Lieberman was hired by the Sacramento Kings as assistant coach Friday, joining Becky Hammon of the San Antonio Spurs as another female NBA assistant coach.
Lieberman was scheduled to be in Las Vegas later in the weekend for an NBA coaching camp with Kings coach George Karl and Vlade Divac, Sacramento’s vice president of basketball and franchise operations and a former star player. The Kings formally announced Lieberman’s hiring Friday along with the coaching staff.
The 57-year-old Lieberman joins Karl’s staff in the state capital just shy of a year after Hammon was hired by the Spurs, making her the first full-time paid female NBA assistant coach.
“Becky opened up a lot of doors even for myself, with what the Spurs did and then with her success at the summer league,” Lieberman said. “It has an effect on a lot of people’s thinking and the acceptance. I believe a lot of people saw that and went: `Why can’t we do that? That’s something that’s really important, and there’s other people open-minded, why can’t it be us?’
“What Becky did was very, very important for everybody. With that said, I love this game, I’ve been around the game for 40 years. I’m qualified.”
Lieberman has worked as head coach of the Dallas Mavericks’ D-League team — leading the expansion team to the playoffs in its first season — and also most recently as an assistant general manager of the organization. She was previously head coach and general manager of the WNBA’s Detroit Shock.
She brings a decorated resume to the Kings and Northern California. Lieberman is a two-time Olympian, three-time All American and two-time national champion in college for Old Dominion.
Thumbnail photo via Twitter/@SacramentoKings
