CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Stockton Kings head coach Lindsey Harding will interview for the head coach position with the Charlotte Hornets, according to reports from ESPN and The Athletic.
Harding won 2024 G League Coach of the Year after her first season coaching the Kings. Stockton finished the season on top of the Western Conference with a 24-10 record before losing in the Conference Finals.
Harding would be the first woman to be a full-time NBA head coach if she is hired.
Harding played nine seasons in the WNBA after a standout collegiate career at Duke. In the WNBA, Harding played with the Minnesota Lynx, Washington Mystics, Atlanta Dream, Los Angeles Sparks, New York Liberty, and Phoenix Mercury.
After her playing career, Harding went into coaching. She has served as the head coach of the women's basketball teams for Mexico and South Sudan. She was also an assistant coach with the Sacramento Kings and a development coach with the Philadelphia 76ers.
Current Hornets head coach Steve Clifford announced his intention to leave the team at the end of the season last week. Clifford is the winningest coach in franchise history but has not had any success in his second stint with the team in the last two years.
As of Monday, Charlotte is 13th in the Eastern Conference record with a 19-59 record.
Whoever is chosen as the next Hornets coach will be tasked with corralling a roster that seemingly has some young talent with LaMelo Ball, Brandon Miller, and Seth Curry, among others, but can not seem to produce wins.
Efforts to hire more women in coaching positions have been made across the NBA. Becky Hammon is perhaps the most notable example. Hammon, a six-time WNBA All-Star, was an assistant with the San Antonio Spurs who was the first woman to be the head coach in an NBA game when Gregg Popovich was ejected from the game. Hammon was a finalist for the Portland Trailblazers head coach job in 2021 but was not hired.