Something wasn’t quite right as Las Vegas Aces coach Becky Hammon posed for photos during the reigning WNBA champions’ media day in April.
She was wearing a black quarter zip with a white undershirt — normal coaching attire around the league, but a major departure from the norm for Hammon.
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Every other year since she was hired to take the helm of the Aces ahead of the 2022 season, Hammon has worn her signature blazer-hoodie combo to media day and on the sideline for games. It’s part of the team’s culture.
And even though Hammon has attempted to switch it up in recent years, her players won’t allow her to gravitate too far from the attire she’s ritualized for herself and her group of assistant coaches.
At the start of the 2025 season, Hammon walked through the arrival tunnel without her signature blaz-oodie on. Veteran point guard Chelsea Gray didn’t let it slide.
“I tried to not do it last year, and Chelsea was like, ‘What are you doing? Where’s your hoodie?’ As if I didn’t come to the game in my uniform or something,” Hammon recalled.
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Hammon thought it was time to move away from the blazer and hoodie because she and her staff wore it throughout an unsuccessful 2024 season. That year, the Aces’ bid for three-straight WNBA titles was thwarted by their 2023 Finals foe, the New York Liberty, which eliminated the Aces in the second round.
So Hammon started the 2025 campaign by wearing a quarter zip for the first couple of road games. That marked the beginning of a tumultuous year for the Aces, which had to mount a historic 16-game winning streak en route to winning the franchise’s third WNBA championship in four years.
“It came back, and then we won. So now it has to stay, because we kept winning,” Hammon said. “So now it’s just here. I’m trying to mix it up.”
More: A’ja Wilson drops most efficient 45-points in WNBA history in Aces’ win
Hammon’s efforts to break out of the blaz-oodie didn’t go so well in the preseason. The Aces took a 101-84 loss to the Dallas Wings on May 3 while she wore a quarter zip.
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“People are up in arms over one game,” Hammon said. “Who wants to get dressed up for the preseason? I’ve got to get dressed up for 44 regular season games and postseason games. I ain’t trying to expend all my hoodies in one shot. But I guess it’s here until they tell me to drop it.”
For Hammon, her players’ opinions on her signature outerwear combination are the only ones that matter.
“They want the blaz-oodie,” Hammon said.
Las Vegas Aces head coach Becky Hammon watches from the sideline in a gray blazer with a white hoodie built-in as her assistants wear a black jacket, red hoodie version of the combination.
How did Becky Hammon’s blaz-oodie come to be?
Hammon’s inspiration for her signature gameday style was born from wanting to be comfortable but needing to follow the rules.
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The former WNBA player made history as the NBA’s first full-time female assistant with the San Antonio Spurs after she hung up her jersey in 2014. By the time she arrived to Las Vegas, she had already formed a perspective on what she liked to wear on the sidelines.
“I love hoodies,” Hammon said. “I didn’t want to wear the zip ups, but I wanted us to be somewhat coordinated. I hate polos. So, I was like, ‘Let’s just do something different.’”
Wearing solely hoodies would have violated the WNBA’s dress code. All of a team’s coaches are required to either wear business attire or official WNBA gear in the form of polo shirts or quarter zips.
Once Hammon found a workaround, she found a flow. Sometimes she pairs regular hoodies with designer blazers. Other times, her hoodie is built into the the blazer she wears – a more lightweight option for Las Vegas’ desert climate.
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As Hammon plays with different colors and designs, her assistants are limited to the Aces’ color scheme. But everyone is allowed freedom with their shoes.
“They have to stick with it,” Aces forward Kierstan Bell said of the team’s assistant coaches. “I mean, they only have a certain amount of options. They only have black, red, and silver that they can do, or white. It would be nice to see them in some other colors to make it exciting. But you’ve got to stay straight to the tradition. I love their style. I love how (Hammon) does her little shoe game. She’s got little sparkles on her stuff, she just be showing out.”
‘It’s part of the vibe”
Gray, a six-time WNBA All-Star who has won three of her four championships with the Aces, might never accept Hammon going without her signature blazer-hoodie combo.
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“It’s part of the vibe. It’s like A’ja (Wilson) not having her one-leg sleeve. It’s like armor,” Gray said.
Wilson, the league’s only four-time MVP, agrees.
“We pay a lot of attention (to Hammon),” Wilson said during an appearance on the Sports Seriously Studio IX podcast. “We’ll be like ‘Girl, what’s going on? Why don’t have that on? It’s literally your fault why we played like that.’ Even though it’s not. It’s clearly our fault. But we have to blame it on somebody, and it just has to be her because we are so routine. We have to have our routines. We have to do things a certain way.”
As the Aces raise their 2025 championship banner before a game against Los Angeles Sparks at Michelob Ultra Arena on Saturday, May 23 and throughout the rest of the 2026 campaign as they look to cement their dynasty status with a fourth championship, you can bet Hammon and her staff will be in uniform.
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“She’s got to stick with the — what do you call it?” Wilson asked.
The blaz-oodie.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Why can’t Aces coach Becky Hammon stop wearing a blazer and hoodie?
