Dawn Staley made a big admission about the possibility of leaving the South Carolina Gamecocks to coach an NBA franchise a couple of months ago. The three-time NCAA national champion flirted with the New York Knicks job once they fired Tom Thibodeau and were denied the chance to interview several candidates who were already employed by other NBA franchises, such as Jason Kidd and Ime Udoka.

Staley was one of the candidates to take over from Thibodeau shortly after she lost the 2025 national championship game against Geno Auriemma’s UConn Huskies.

After a 25-year career that started in Temple in 2000, Staley has become one of the best coaches in women’s college basketball. She is committed to her program, but taking on a challenge as big as coaching an NBA team, as a woman, was enticing f

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