Nancy Lieberman announced as Kings assistant coach
Basketball Hall of Fame member Nancy Lieberman a job as an assistant coach, the team officially announced on Friday.
Sacramento Kings vice president Vlade Divac first told the Sacramento Bee that he offered Liberman a job on Thursday.
Lieberman told the Bee that she will accept the offer. An official announcement is expected next week.
The 57-year-old Lieberman was the head coach of the Texas Legends, the Dallas Mavericks’ NBA D-League team, from 2009 to 2011, making her the first woman to be the head coach of a professional men's basketball team. She then became the Legends' assistant general manager, a position she still holds.
“Definitely I’m going to offer her a job,” Divac said. “George [Karl] and I talked about bringing her back after she helped us at Summer League. She was terrific. She brings a different dimension. I think is a nice opportunity for her.”
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Lieberman will become the second active female assistant coach in the NBA, joining Becky Hammon of the San Antonio Spurs. Hammon was hired last August and coached San Antonio to the Las Vegas Summer League title recently.
In 1986, Lieberman became the first women ever to play in a men's professional basketball league when she joined the United States Basketball League. She would later play for the Washington Generals, a men's exhibition team who often played the Harlem Globetrotters.
Lieberman was elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame as a player in 1996.
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She has previously played in the WNBA as well and served as as the general manager and head coach of the WNBA's Detroit Shock.
On Thursday, the Iowa Energy hired Nicki Gross as an assistant coach, making her the only current female coach in the NBA D-League.
- Molly Geary
