Kara Lawson is an Olympic Gold medalist (both player and coach), WNBA champion, former ESPN broadcaster and trailblazing NBA assistant coach. She currently serves as the head coach of Duke University’s women’s basketball team. Coach Kara captured the hearts of the nation when her inspiring “Handle Hard Better” talk to her team of 17 players became a viral video motivating millions. She is one of only three NCAA Division I basketball coaches that have played in an NCAA Final Four and won both a WNBA Championship and an Olympic gold medal. She also broke new ground for women in sports as the first Black coach of the Duke women’s basketball program, the first female coach in Boston Celtics history, and the first woman to serve as analyst for an NBA game.
More About Coach Kara Lawson
Coach Kara Lawson began her basketball career in high school, where she led her squad to two Virginia state championships and earned All-America and Player of the Year honors. She went on to the University of Tennessee, where she played for legendary coach Pat Summitt and led the Lady Vols to three NCAA Final Four appearances and four straight SEC Tournament and regular season titles. She joined the WNBA in 2003, playing for the Detroit Shock, Sacramento Monarchs, Connecticut Sun and Washington Mystics. Lawson led her teams to the playoffs in nine out of 13 seasons, winning a WNBA championship with the Monarchs in 2005 and making an All-Star appearance in 2007.
While in the WNBA, Lawson also competed internationally. In 2008, she was a member of Team USA, winning a gold medal at the Summer Olympic Games in Beijing. In 2007-2008, she was a member of the USA Basketball Women’s National Team and the 2007 FIBA Americas Championship team. She was invited to play with the 2006 USA Basketball Women’s National Team during spring training and played five games with 2003 WNBA select team that participated in the FIBA Women’s World Cup.
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Coach Lawson also broke down gender barriers in the world of sports broadcasting, becoming the first female analyst for a nationally-televised NBA game in 2007. She began her 14-year broadcast career while still playing in the WNBA, starting as a studio analyst for the Sacramento Kings and working her way up the ranks. After retiring as a player, Lawson became the primary television analyst covering the Washington Wizards for NBC Sports Washington, while also broadcasting games for ESPN radio. Lawson also served as a game and studio analyst for the NBA and men’s and women’s college basketball for ESPN. During the 2021 Olympic games in Tokyo, she was a color announcer for NBC.
Lawson’s coaching career began in 2017 as head coach of USA Basketball’s 3×3, which she led to Olympic gold at the 2021 games in Tokyo. During the 2019-20 season, she joined the Boston Celtics as assistant coach, becoming the first woman in a coaching role in the franchise’s history. In 2022, was both head coach for the 3×3 team and assistant coach for the U.S. Women’s National Team, which won gold at the FIBA Women’s World Cup. She has served as head coach of the Duke Blue Devils women’s basketball team since 2020, the first Black woman in that role.