‘Becky was our baby’: Aces, Sky coaches recall playing days together

Becky Hammon saw black, blue and “almost green” when she looked in the mirror.

It was the aftermath of the then-rookie being taken out on a fast break by Teresa Weatherspoon or Vickie Johnson — Hammon said she wasn’t sure.

What the Aces coach and now Hall of Famer does know, is she fell flat on her face. And that it made her better.

Before becoming a six-time All-Star, Hammon entered the WNBA as an undersized, undrafted rookie out of Colorado State in 1999. The facial bruises came during her first training camp with the New York Liberty, where Weatherspoon was already an established star.

Weatherspoon and the Liberty would rough Hammon up plenty in the years to come, but they’d also love and protect her like it was their full-time job.

On Thursday, Hammon and Weatherspoon will face off as WNBA coaches for the first time when the Aces (8-6) visit the Chicago Sky (6-9).

Hammon, 47, looks back on her time with Weatherspoon fondly. She told the story of the Liberty’s early physicality through a warm smile after practice Tuesday.

Weatherspoon, 58, is in her first year leading the Sky. The two-time Defensive Player of the Year and five-time All-Star was one of the Liberty’s core players who fought for Hammon to make the team’s roster in 1999.

“‘We like the little white girl. We hit her so hard. But she got up.’’” Hammon said, mimicking how she imagined Weatherspoon and her teammates appealed to the front office before her rookie year. “And then, they didn’t let anybody mess with me. If anybody messed with me, they were all over them. So they became like protective big sisters.”

‘Tough as nails’

Hammon was hesitant to tell the story that led to her bruised face. When asked about her former teammate’s reminiscence, Weatherspoon said she couldn’t recall anything about a fast break and indicated she didn’t think the Liberty’s “rough” practices would be understood or well-received due to recent conversations surrounding physicality in the WNBA.

“Becky was our baby. She was our little baby sister,” Weatherspoon said Wednesday. “She was tough as nails, and she tells this story all the time. It’s making me laugh because we all played hard. It would make the game easier for us because we all went hard. We wanted to make everybody better. But we saw something great in Becky. So we made every practice really rough.”

For Weatherspoon, the best Hammon memory came in a game, when a tall center was defending the 5-foot-6-inch Hammon.

“Nobody talks about how deep (Hammon) can shoot it. There was a post player that came out on her and had her hands down,” Weatherspoon said. “Becky told her, ‘You better get your hands up.’ The post player didn’t get her hands up … and pow! It went in. We all ran back and said, ‘She told you to get your hands up.’

“I tell that story because she was confident. She was showing the world that ‘I belong here. I worked to get this. I earned this. Nobody gave nothing to me.’”

Then and now

Hammon was Weatherspoon’s backup in those early years in New York, reaching the WNBA Finals in 1999, 2000 and 2002. Weatherspoon was there to push Hammon’s wheelchair when a torn right ACL ended her season in 2003, then Hammon became a starter in 2004 when Weatherspoon left for the Los Angeles Sparks. The teammates “went to war together,” Weatherspoon said.

A lot has changed since then.

After her 16-year career, Hammon was an assistant coach for the San Antonio Spurs from 2014 to 2022 before joining the Aces. Weatherspoon played eight WNBA seasons before coaching at Louisiana Tech and spending four years as an assistant with the NBA’s New Orleans Pelicans before taking over the Sky.

Weatherspoon was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2019. She returned to stand by Hammon’s side when she was inducted last year.

Ahead of their reunion on the court, their descriptions of each other emphasize gratitude to basketball.

“She was always just grateful for every moment, and she oozed that joy,” Hammon said of Weatherspoon. “It was contagious.”

Weatherspoon, when informed of Hammon’s answer, turned the compliment around.

“I love her so much,” Weatherspoon said. “She knows my level of care, of giving. She’s the very same way. She’s very giving of her time. We’re giving of our experiences. This is what it’s really all about for us. We’re thankful to be back in the W to try to make a difference. There’s a level of passion that some people might not understand sometimes. We just want to be impactful.”

For all of the positive sentiment shared between the coaches, Weatherpoon added that as soon as Thursday’s game begins, it will be all about the players. Hammon’s squad features two-time MVP A’ja Wilson, a favorite to win the award this season. Weatherspoon’s team is highlighted by two high-profile rookies, Kamilla Cardoso and Angel Reese, who is a leader in the Rookie of the Year race.

“(Hammon) knows me. I know her. We’re both competitors,” Weatherspoon said. “She wants to win. I want to win. We’ll be strategically flying our minds away over there to put our young people in positions to go get wins. We’re going to compete. The moment that last horn goes off, it’s different.”

Contact Callie Lawson-Freeman at clawsonfreeman@reviewjournal.com. Follow @CallieJLaw on X.