Gregg Popovich praises San Antonio’s Becky Hammon, says her coaching is not a ‘gimmick’

It will be no gimmick when — not if — Becky Hammon becomes a head coach in the NBA.

The six-time WNBA All-Star coached the San Antonio Spurs to a summer league championship earlier this week and has earned high praise from Gregg Popovich, one of the NBA’s most-respected coaches.

“I don’t even look at it as, well, she’s the first female this and that and the other. She’s a coach, and she’s good at it,” Popovich said Wednesday on KNBR. “I think some people thought this was some kind of gimmick or we were just trying to be cool. I’m glad she’s there. I respect her opinion, I enjoy the give-and-take with her and when she went to the summer league, that stuff’s about development.”

Popovich, who has coached the Spurs to five NBA titles since 1999, tabbed Hammon as an assistant last season, making her the first woman to be a full-time assistant coach. She got more responsibility this summer when she was asked to coach the summer league team, another first.

“It became huge when we hired her, and now it’s even bigger because of the summer league situation. But we didn’t even think about that stuff,” Popovich said.

Now, about the only first left is a head coaching position in the NBA.

“A female coaching a team these days has got a lot to do with the people on the teams maturing as individuals,” Popovich said. “It’s about talent. It’s about respect. I think people like Becky, over time who gain respect ... it could happen.”

Hammon was a six-time WNBA All-Star while playing basketball nearly year-round. She was a member of the New York Liberty from 1999-2006 and the San Antonio Stars from 2007-14 while also splitting time with international teams in Italy, Spain and Russia.

She won a bronze medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics with the Russian national team.

Follow Matt Wilhalme on Twitter @mattwilhalme