Sacramento Kings Expected to Hire Nancy Lieberman, Make Her Second Female Coach in NBA

The Sacramento Kings are expected to sign the former D-League coach as an assistant.

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A year ago from this upcoming Wednesday will mark the first anniversary of the Spurssigning Becky Hammon, and making her the first full-time (and paid) female coach in NBA history. Then, as you probably heard, just a few days ago the Arizona Cardinals became the trailblazer in their league when they madeJen Welter the first female coach in the NFL.

Whether or not it's a trend or a few outliers is still unclear, but today the Sacramento Bee reported that the Kingswill add Hall of Famer Nancy Lieberman to George Karl's staff as an assistant, making her the second female coach in NBA history.

Lieberman has previously broken ground in the sport as both a player and coach. In 1986 she became the first woman in history to play in a men's league, doing so with the USBL's Springfield Fame. In 2009 she became the first woman to coach a men's pro team by taking control of the dry-erase board for the D-League's Texas Legends. Later on she became the team's assistant GM (a title that's still active, for now). 

The Kings are expected to make the announcement official next week, with Sacramento's Vice President Vlade Divac saying:

"Definitely I’m going to offer her a job. 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.”

Earlier today Lieberman said she plans to accept the offer.

[via Sacramento Bee]

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