In a recent interview with ESPN, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver revealed that he believes there will be a female head coach in the league during his tenure.
During a discussion on the NBA and Leanin.org’s launch of a gender equality campaign on Tuesday (March 28), Silver was asked for his thoughts on a woman leading an NBA team, which he’s in favor of.
Currently, Lauren Holtkamp is the only woman officiating in the NBA, following Violet Palmer and Dee Kanter. During the interview, Silver states he has a goal of hiring more women to even the pool of recruited officials. “We will be looking very hard at dramatically increasing the representation of women in our officiating ranks,” Silver said.
Silver also added that “there is absolutely no reason why a woman will not ascend to be a head coach in this league. We are very focused in on it.”
Two of the women who many believe will make history are San Antonio’s Becky Hammon and Sacramento’s Nancy Lieberman, who’re currently assistant coaches in the NBA. Silver claims the league can implement a few things to accelerate the move toward women taking on the role of head coach and he believes it will happen “sooner rather than later.”