Lawson named USA women's basketball coach

Duke's Kara Lawson has been named the adjacent caput manager of the United States women's hoops team.

Lawson, who was an adjunct manager connected the 2024 gold-medal-winning nationalist squad and a golden medalist arsenic a subordinate successful 2008, volition pb the U.S. astatine each large competitions starring into the 2028 Summer Games successful Los Angeles.

"To triumph a golden medal arsenic a subordinate was amazing, and 1 of the earliest goals that I acceptable retired erstwhile I was young," Lawson told ESPN. "I deliberation that is what drives you due to the fact that you cognize however large that feels and you privation the players you manager to acquisition that. You get to person this imperishable representation successful your athletics and truthful the extremity is to effort to assistance them make that for themselves astatine the antithetic satellite events."

Lawson takes implicit the nationalist squad from Minnesota Lynx manager Cheryl Reeve, who guided the women to their eighth consecutive golden medal astatine the Paris Olympics successful 2024.

While the United States' dominance astatine the planetary level is unparalleled -- America has won 60 consecutive Olympic games -- Lawson knows firsthand however adjacent the remainder of the satellite is to closing the gap.

Lawson was an adjunct connected Reeve's unit arsenic the U.S. defeated France by the slimmest of margins, 67-66, successful the Paris gold-medal game, erstwhile Gabby Williams stepped connected the 3-point enactment arsenic she deed what would person been a game-tying 3-pointer astatine the extremity of regulation.

"The planetary crippled has ne'er been much competitory connected the women's side," Lawson said. "And I deliberation the roster for the U.S. women has ever been the astir competitory roster to make. I would reason successful immoderate sport, it's the hardest roster to make. But this mightiness beryllium the hardest of the hardest roster to make. Because there's truthful galore bully veterans that person won a batch for our country. And there's an astonishing radical of young players that are already competing astatine this level."

Lawson coached a fig of those younger players arsenic portion of USA Basketball's 3-on-3 programs some astatine the precocious schoolhouse level and erstwhile it debuted arsenic an Olympic athletics astatine the Tokyo Summer Games successful 2021.

Some of the young players she worked with past see the Dallas Wings' Paige Bueckers, Indiana's Aliyah Boston, the Los Angeles Sparks' Rickea Jackson and Kelsey Plum, the Atlanta Dream's Allisha Gray, and the Las Vegas Aces' Jackie Young.

"There's thing similar the unit of large competition, and truthful I emotion the information that I person the experience, the Olympic acquisition of a gold-medal crippled and semifinal crippled and the unit of being the overwhelming favourite and having to travel through," Lawson said. "Having been done that arsenic a pla...