The Scouting Report: A weekly digest

Basketball royalty, honoring the fallen, celebrating S.D. places, economic realities

An ambassador of sports royalty will be in Sioux Falls on May 6, the keynote speaker for Experience Sioux Falls’ annual Visitor Industry Luncheon.

Becky Hammon is one of the best athletes produced by South Dakota. The Rapid City native had a stellar high school basketball career but flew largely under the radar. She ended up at Colorado State University where she was a three-time All American, leading the team to a Sweet 16 appearance. Despite those accolades, she went undrafted in the professional ranks, but, as Hammon has done throughout her career, she proved the doubters wrong.

She had a stellar professional career, retiring in 2014 as a six-time WNBA All-Star. She also made two Olympic teams.

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Multiple anterior-cruciate ligament injuries ended her playing career, and she transitioned to coaching in 2014 when she became the first woman to coach full time in the NBA after joining the San Antonio Spurs. In 2020, she made history when Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich was ejected, and he handed the team over to Hammon. By that time, the Spurs were already struggling against the defending champion Los Angeles Lakers, and Hammon ended up losing her first game at the helm.

But there haven’t been a lot more losses. She made history again in 2022 and 2023 after becoming the head coach of the WNBA Las Vegas Aces, winning the league title in each year, becoming the first coach in NBA or WNBA history to win back-to-back titles in her first two years.

“Considered an underdog for most of her career, Becky's enthralling tale features her rise from undrafted rookie in the WNBA to being named one of the league's Top 15 Players of All-Time,” according to a release from Experience Sioux Falls.

Ticket information will be released in coming weeks.

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