Since taking office, Adam Silver has made it a point of honor to offer more space and visibility to women in the NBA. The projects are numerous but the progress is real since there are many more women assistants, referees and occupying positions of responsibility within the organization chart of the NBA franchises than eight years ago.
The appointment of a woman as “head coach” of a franchise would be a sort of culmination of the inclusive identity of the NBA wanted by Adam Silver. Who assures that this possibility is very close…
“I would be extremely disappointed if, in five years, we had not seen the first female head coach in the NBA”, so he said at the microphone of a podcast, alongside Cathy Engelbert, his WNBA counterpart.
Using the WNBA and Women’s Professional Basketball
Adam Silver went on to portray the WNBA and the world of women’s basketball in general as a tremendous source of talent. Many former players have thus been able to integrate NBA staff, in various positions.
“What we’re seeing today, and you can look at the data, is that it’s amazing how many of our young players come from families whose mothers played pro or, in many cases, the WNBA. », he added. “So I think there’s a whole new respect for women’s professional basketball from the young players who are in the league now. And in the same way, once they respect women’s basketball, I think they also respect women as coaches.
We think in particular of the mother of JaVale McGee, Pamela, two-time WNBA champion and who also has a daughter, Imani, who has evolved into a pro. Just for the rookies, we can note that the mothers of Paolo Banchero, Jaden Ivey or even Jeremy Sochan have made careers in basketball.
In France, the best example is Boris Diaw, son of Elisabeth Riffiod and his 247 national team selections, while Victor Wembanyama’s mother, Elodie de Fautereau, was also a professional basketball player.
“The objective is the following: in the future, there should be approximately 50% of new female referees entering the league. Same thing for coaches, by the way. We also have a program to train them. There’s no reason women can’t coach men’s basketball.”he concluded.
