Gregg Popovich Jokes About Getting Tossed to See Becky Hammon Win Finals

San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich desperately wanted to watch a basketball game on Wednesday night. Just not the one he had to coach.

The WNBA's Las Vegas Aces, led by head coach Becky Hammon, won their second consecutive championship with a 70-69 Game 4 win over the New York Liberty. At about the same time, Popovich was coaching the Spurs to a 117-103 NBA exhibition win over the Houston Rockets, but he would have rather been cheering on Hammon, his former assistant coach.

Popovich confirmed as much during his postgame press conference. The five-time NBA champion joked, though perhaps with some honesty, that he considered having himself ejected from Wednesday's game so he could cheer on the Aces but eventually decided against it.

"I gotta go celebrate," Popovich said. "Becky Hammon and the Aces. It's like Smokey Robinson and the Miracles. It's Becky and the Aces. Fantastic. I thought about getting booted tonight because it was exactly the same time. But I just thought this has to be my priority. But it was close. It was close. Congrats, Becky. Yeah, baby. Good stuff."

The 74-year-old urged reporters to ask their questions rapidly throughout the press event. There was a celebration to get to.

"Quickly, quickly," Popovich said. "I gotta go get some wine. Can I say that?"

Hammon was a six-time All-Star in her 16-year WNBA career, the last eight of which were spent playing in San Antonio with the Silver Stars. After retiring from playing after the 2014 season, the guard was hired by Popovich to join the Spurs' coaching staff. Hammon became the first woman to be hired as a full-time assistant coach in NBA history.

Now, she is making some more WNBA history too.

Hammon was with the Spurs for eight seasons before the Aces hired her ahead of the 2022 season. With Wednesday's WNBA Finals win, Hammon has now won titles in each of her first two seasons as head coach. The only other coaches to accomplish that in the WNBA or NBA are Van Chancellor and John Kundla, according to ESPN.

The Aces are the first repeat WNBA champions in over 20 years. Las Vegas also becomes only the third WNBA franchise to win multiple championships in a row.

"This one's sweeter," Hammon said postgame. "It just is. It's harder to do."

"It's not easy, as you know," added Finals MVP A'ja Wilson, who led all players with 24 points and 16 rebounds Wednesday. "This is what it's all about. Not a lot of people get to do it. To be short-handed and win is amazing. It makes the win that much better. It's hard to get back to the Finals to win again."

A second consecutive WNBA finals win lengthens Hammon's Hall of Fame résumé. Hammon was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as part of the 2023 class. In her speech, she thanked Popovich, who was also inducted that year.

Hammon became the first woman to act as head coach in NBA history when Popovich was ejected from a game in 2020. She also interviewed with several NBA teams for full-time head coaching gigs and would have been the first female head coach in league history.

Popovich was publicly adamant that she deserved the opportunity to lead an NBA team. The two have stayed close since Hammon left San Antonio. Popovich stopped by the Aces' locker room and cracked some jokes during last year's finals.

"Pop, I knew you weren't trying to be courageous when you hired me, but you did something no one in professional sports has ever done," Hammon said in her Hall of Fame speech.