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RAPID CITY, S.D. – As an accomplished WNBA player and coach, Becky Hammon has built quite a name for herself in the sport of basketball.
Last week, she had the opportunity to return to her home state and the city where it all started.
Hammon made a special appearance at the Lakota Nation Invitational in Rapid City.
The Rapid City Stevens standout had the chance to catch up with family, friends, and former coaches.
Plus, the 47-year-old met with players at the LNI and had a clear message for the younger athletes.
“Do your best every day,” said Becky Hammon. “Take advantage of opportunities. Stay coachable. But not everybody is going to have a professional career. But high school is a really special time to be part of a team. Then going onto college. I have some relationships with some of my college teammates till to this day. But it’s about improving.”
Hammon was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall-of-Fame in 2023.
Hammon is still the career scoring leader at Rapid City Stevens with 1,417 points.
After high school, she played at Colorado State followed by a 16-year career in the WNBA.
She was also an assistant coach for the San Antonio Spurs.
In fact, when Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich was ejected during a game on Dec. 30, 2020, Hammon became the first woman head coach to lead an NBA team in a regular season game.
The 1994 South Dakota Miss Basketball is currently the head coach of the Las Vegas Aces and led the team to back-to-back WNBA titles.
Hammon feels she’s played a role in the WNBA’s unprecedented growth.
“We were at a boiling point,” said Hammon. It was starting to bubble and then the Caitlin Clark and the Angel Reese’s and all the stuff that kind of tipped it over. But there was a lot of women that came before them that got it to that boiling point to where society and everybody was kind of ready to consume women’s sports now. So I’ve been excited. I’ve loved women’s sports the whole time. So I’m just glad everybody else that arrived late to the party is at least at the party now.”
Next summer, Hammon will begin her fourth season as the Las Vegas Aces head coach.
Justin Wickersham has been at KNBN since September 1999 and is currently the Sports Director.
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