Kara Lawson Becomes First Woman Hired by NBA’s Boston Celtics as Assistant Coach

Former WNBA player Kara Lawson is the first woman hired as the Boston Celtics’ assistant coach in the history of the franchise.

The Celtics made the announcement on Wednesday.

Kara Lawson attended the University of Tennessee during the years of 1999 to 2003; and played basketball led by the all-time winningest women’s Division I college basketball coach, the late Pat Summit. Lawson currently serves on the university’s Board of Trustees.

In her 13 seasons with the WNBA, she played for the Connecticut Sun, Washington Mystics, and the Sacramento Monarchs, and averaged 9.8 points on 39 percent shooting from behind the arc. Lawson won a championship with the Monarchs in 2005 and made an All-Star appearance in 2007. She was a member of Team USA, which won a gold medal at the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing.

Lawson begins her tenure with the Celtics coming from a broadcasting career. Over the past two years, she has both covered games for ESPN Radio and served as the primary television analyst for NBC Sports Washington covering the Washington Wizards. Lawson has served as an adviser for USA Basketball’s 3-on-3 teams over the past few years, as well.

Lawson is one of three new members of the Celtics’ coaching staff. She is the fourth woman to earn a spot on an NBA team’s coaching staff.

NBA commissioner Adam Silver had made it a priority for the NBA and its members’ teams to hire more women in positions of coaching, administration and officiating.

“There’s no reason why women shouldn’t be coaching men’s basketball,” Silver said in May.

There has never been a female head coach in the NBA.

Related Story: NBA Sets Goal for Hiring More Women as Referees and Coaches, But Needs a Strategy

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