San Antonio Spurs: Is NBA prepared for potential of a female head coach?

What should we expect from the Spurs coaching staff in the future?

New Orleans’ All-Star Weekend in 2008 is generally known for one of two things: the LeBron James, Ray Allen showcase during the All-Star Game, or Dwight Howard, taking flight (in a Superman cape, no less) during his extravagant dunk contest performance.

Some time during that weekend’s festivities, Spurs fans were being introduced to a duo they probably couldn’t have imagined in their wildest dreams working together a dozen years later: Tim Duncan and Becky Hammon.

That weekend, the two of them (alongside fellow Spurs great David Robinson) joined forces to win the Shooting Stars Competition. These days, they’ll be sharing the bench in an attempt to help bring more hardware to San Antonio.

The “stars” have seemingly aligned for Hammon to have that chance.

Not only has Hammon been promoted to the head of the Spurs’ bench, but favorable opportunities for former Spurs assistant coaches.

First, there was James Borrego, who, after two different stints as a Spurs assistant, broke his own barrier as the first Hispanic full-time head coach (for the Charlotte Hornets).

Then, there was Ettore Messina, who sat as Gregg Popovich’s “right hand man,” and seemed primed to be next up in the event of a retirement of some sort.

The off-court privileges that came with head coaching Olimpia Milano, however, proved to be too enticing. Similarly, Ime Udoka cited learning different perspectives as a reason for joining the Philadelphia 76ers.

The idea of a breakthrough this large remains largely divisive among comment sections and chat rooms, but facts considered, if any organization seems equipped to take a step toward nonconformity, the San Antonio Spurs are the one.

Hammon has three things going for her, given her future. As brought out before, she’s got a proven track record of success. The 2015 Summer League was a solid springboard. The stakes aren’t as high as say, an actual NBA game, but it does add merit to what the organization likely hopes to accomplish in the future.

It also makes the player-coach relationship — in this case, Becky Hammon and 2015 Summer League Finals MVP Jonathan Simmons — more transparent for outsiders to see. Per Sports Illustrated and Washington Post writer Ben Golliver, here’s how Simmons described her after the title.

As for next season, it seems like a safe assumption that Hammon will, at some point breakthrough that “glass ceiling,” and become the first woman to head coach an NBA game.

Gregg Popovich, for all of his greatness, has hilariously been ejected on 18 different occasions over his 22-year coaching career, which nearly ranges out to an ejection per year. In a season that’ll surely bring about some growing pains, it’s not a stretch to say that at some point, emotions could be high.

When that day comes, Popovich will have to look down his bench and trust in his assistant coaching staff. And Hammon, as she calls it, will have to be ready to “bring the juice.”