NBA hires first full-time female coach

It's a slam dunk for Becky Hammon after the six-time Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) All-Star was hired as an assistant coach for NBA team, the San Antonio Spurs.

Although Hammon isn't the first woman to hold a coaching position within the NBA, she is the first to do so in a full-time capacity.

Hammon will retire from the WNBA after a 16-year career at the end of the 2014 season, and will work with Spurs coach Gregg Popovich on "scouting, game-planning and the day-to-day grind of practice", a press release said.

Calling this the "perfect challenge and opportunity", Hammon said she is "a little overwhelmed right now".

At a press conference, CNN reported Hammon said: "There's women that have trail-blazed much bigger paths and really trail-blazed the path for things like this to happen.

"There's a lot more important things going on, in the bigger things, CEOs of companies. Women are really in every area. They're in the surgery rooms. They're doctors. They're lawyers. They're COOs."

On Hammon's appointment, Popovich said he is "confident her basketball IQ, work ethic and interpersonal skills will be a great benefit to the Spurs".

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