Aces’ Becky Hammon named 2022 WNBA Coach of the Year

Aces coach Becky Hammon has preached one message more than most to her team. When one person shares, everyone gets more.

“It’s been our mantra all year,” she said Saturday after the Aces clinched a spot in the WNBA semifinals.

Hammon shared more than most this season. Friday her contributions were recognized when she was named 2022 WNBA Coach of the Year.

She led the Aces to the No. 1 seed in the league, a 26-10 record and won the 2022 Commissioner’s Cup all in her first year as a head coach. The Aces will begin their best-of-five WNBA semifinals series against the No. 4 Seattle Storm at 1 p.m. Sunday at Michelob Ultra Arena.

“The best part about my job has been the people I get to see, the women I get to see every day,” Hammon said ahead of the team’s final regular-season game. “They’re really phenomenal people. I enjoy being their coach.”

She’s the second coach in franchise history to earn the award and the first since the organization moved to Las Vegas in 2018. Dan Hughes won the honor in 2007 with the San Antonio Silver Stars, coincidentally in Hammon’s first season with the franchise as a player. The Aces coach is also the first former WNBA player to win the award while coaching a team which she had played for.

Hammon, a former NBA assistant coach with the San Antonio Spurs, won the award by receiving 27 votes from a national panel of 56 broadcasters and sportswriters. Atlanta Dream coach and former Aces assistant Tanisha Wright, who was named the 2022 AP Coach of the Year, finished second with 18 votes. Chicago Sky coach James Wade was third with eight votes.

At its core, Hammon’s mantra about sharing is a basic principle of her offense. She wants her players to make the extra pass, turn good shots into great shots and trust that when they give up the ball, they’ll get it back in a better position.

However, it also goes beyond the four lines of a basketball court. With a team full of All-Stars, Hammon needed the team to buy into her offense and her culture. Her mantra means winning as a team will create opportunities for individual recognition.

Early in the season, this attitude, along with Hammon’s new offense built around perimeter play, led the Aces to a blistering 13-2 start. It earned four players — A’ja Wilson, Dearica Hamby, Jackie Young and Kelsey Plum — All-Star selections and Hammon was named All-Star coach.

“We all know what she’s done as a player and as an assistant coach (in the NBA),” veteran center Kiah Stokes said. “We respect her, her goals, her ideas, her whole philosophy. We have nothing but faith in her.”

By mid-June though, the Aces were slumping. A 104-95 loss to the Sky June 21, which included a league-record 28-point comeback by Chicago, sent the team into a tailspin. The Aces lost four of their next six games.

The mid-season skid set the stage for Hammon’s best coaching moment of the season. As the team regrouped in New York immediately after the All-Star break, the Aces coach called a team meeting.

Point guard Chelsea Gray said Hammon was honest with the players, called them out for their selfish play both offensively and defensively and challenged them to self-evaluate.

“It was her just telling us what she saw,” Gray said.

The meeting helped turn the team around. The Aces finished the season on a high note, beating the Sky to claim the No. 1 seed and winning two games against the Storm during the final four games of the regular season.

Now, after a first-round sweep of the Phoenix Mercury, the Aces stand just six wins away from a championship, one of the few things Hammon hasn’t already achieved in her storied career.

“This is what we’ve been working for all season,” she said.

Contact reporter Andy Yamashita at ayamashita@reviewjournal.com. Follow @ANYamashita on Twitter.