Las Vegas Aces head coach Becky Hammon named WNBA Coach of the Year

LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Las Vegas Aces head coach Becky Hammon has been named the 2022 WNBA Coach of the Year by the WNBA on Friday.

Hammon becomes the third former WNBA player to win the award, joining 2014 winner Sandy Brondello and 2004 winner Suzie McConnell-Serio. She is the first former player to earn the honor in her debut season as a WNBA head coach and the only one to win the award while coaching the franchise for which she previously played.

Hammon received 27 votes from a national panel of 56 sportswriters and broadcasters. Tanisha Wright of the Atlanta Dream finished in second place with 18 votes and James Wade of the Chicago Sky was third with eight votes. Vickie Johnson of the Dallas Wings, Vanessa Nygaard of the Phoenix Mercury and Mike Thibault of the Washington Mystics each received one vote.

In her first season as a WNBA head coach, Hammon guided Las Vegas to a 26-10 record and the No. 1 seed in the 2022 WNBA Playoffs.

The Aces will continue their quest for the franchise’s first WNBA championship when they host the fourth-seeded Seattle Storm in Game 1 of a Semifinals series on Sunday, Aug. 28 at 4 p.m. ET on ESPN.

Hammon led the Aces to the third-highest regular-season winning percentage in franchise history. Las Vegas posted a 9-1 record against Western Conference rivals in Commissioner’s Cup play during the first half of the regular season and defeated the Chicago Sky 93-83 in the Commissioner’s Cup Championship Game on July 26.

Under Hammon, four Aces players – guards Kelsey Plum and Jackie Young and forwards Dearica Hamby and A’ja Wilson – were named to the 2022 AT&T WNBA All-Star Game. Hammon earned a spot as head coach in the game and guided Team Wilson to a 134-112 victory.

The Aces averaged a WNBA-high 90.4 points per game this season, the third-highest scoring average in league history and the highest mark since 2010. They broke the WNBA record for most points by a team in a season opener in their 106-88 victory over the Mercury on May 6. Las Vegas also set the WNBA record for points per game by a team’s starters in a season (77.5 ppg).

Hammon played 16 seasons in the WNBA, including her final eight with the San Antonio Silver Stars, for which she helped the franchise reach its first WNBA Finals, in 2008. A six-time WNBA All-Star selection, Hammon was named as one of the 25 greatest players to ever play in the WNBA as part of the League’s 25th-anniversary celebration during the 2021 season. Her No. 25 jersey was retired by Las Vegas on Sept. 13, 2021, in a ceremony that served as the culmination of the franchise’s 25th-anniversary alumni initiative, which saw the organization embrace its Utah and San Antonio roots established before the team moved to Las Vegas in 2018.

Before joining Las Vegas as head coach in 2022, Hammon spent eight seasons as an NBA assistant coach with the San Antonio Spurs, who hired her in 2014 as the first full-time female assistant coach in league history. During her tenure in San Antonio, Hammon became the first woman to serve as a head coach in an NBA regular season game (Dec. 20, 2020) and the first woman to head coach in the NBA Summer League (where she led the Spurs to the 2015 championship in Las Vegas).