The Boston Celtics have hired Kara Lawson, a former WNBA star and Olympic champion, as an assistant coach.
Over the past five years, women have edged their way into the male-dominated coaching ranks of the league. For example, in 2014, the San Antonio Spurs hired Becky Hammon as the first female full-time assistant coach. In 2017, the Sacramento Kings hired Jenny Boucek and in 2018, she joined the Dallas Mavericks' staff. And this spring new Cleveland Cavaliers coach John Beilein brought on Lindsay Gottlieb.
Lawson, 38, coaches USA Basketball 3-on-3 teams that compete within FIBA and are training for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. She won a gold medal with Team USA in the 2008 Olympics.
She was a point guard in the WNBA for 12 seasons and is well-known for taking Tennessee to three Final Fours. She’s also worked as an ESPN analyst, covering the Washington Wizards for the past three seasons.
Now she’ll join Brad Stevens’ staff as the Celtics prepare for the madness of free agency.
Wojnarowski reports that Lawson has contemplated several coaching opportunities within the last few years, prior to coming to Boston. But, the opportunity to help Brad Stevens and join the Celtics organization convinced her to accept the offer.
Lawson will make history as the first woman to ever hold a coaching position for the Celtics. But, it’s not the first time she has made NBA history. Back in 2017, Lawson was the first woman to become a national broadcast analyst for an NBA game.
Back on May 9, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver announced that he wanted more women to be involved in the league.
“The goal is: Going forward, it should be roughly 50-50 of new officials entering in the league,” he said. “Same for coaches, by the way. We have a program, too. There’s no reason why women shouldn’t be coaching men’s basketball.”
