When the Las Vegas Aces and New York Liberty tip off the WNBA Finals on Sunday (3 p.m. ET, ABC/ESPN App), the coaching matchup between Becky Hammon and Sandy Brondello will be 26 years in the making.
Although former WNBA players have coached teams to the Finals before, this is the first time in league history two of them will square off against each other in the championship series.
Along with Coach of the Year Stephanie White, whose Connecticut Sun lost to Brondello’s Liberty in the semifinals, the success Brondello and Hammon are enjoying coaching the WNBA’s highest-profile teams is reflective of the league embracing former players as coaches. After never having more than three head-coaching spots held by former players, they’ve made up half of the league’s 12 jobs in each of the past two seasons.
With the WNBA’s diversity coaching initiative dramatically increasing the number of assistant coaches with playing experience in the league, Brondello and Hammon might be the first former players to square off in the Finals. They won’t be the last.
“Since 2019,” WNBA commissioner Cathy…
