NBA Commissioner Adam Silver stated he wants to see more female referees and female coaches join the league.
Here is what Silver said during his appearance in The Economic Club of Washington, D.C., on Thursday (09/05):
“It’s an area, frankly, where I’ve acknowledged that I’m not sure how it was that it remained so male-dominated for so long. Because it’s an area of the game where physically, certainly, there’s no benefit to being a man, as opposed to a woman, when it comes to refereeing.
The goal is: Going forward, it should be roughly 50-50 of new officials entering in the league. Same for coaches, by the way. We have a program, too. There’s no reason why women shouldn’t be coaching men’s basketball.”
There has never been a female head coach in the NBA. Becky Hammon of the San Antonio Spurs was the league’s first full-time female assistant, while Kristi Toliver worked as an assistant coach for the Washington Wizards this season and still plays for the WNBA’s Mystics in the same city.
