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Pels add Teresa Weatherspoon to coaching staff

The New Orleans Pelicans have hired Teresa Weatherspoon and AJ Diggs as two-way player development coaches, the team announced Thursday.

Weatherspoon and Diggs will work with the Pelicans' two-way players, currently guard Josh Gray and forward Zylan Cheatham, and accompany their transfers to and from the G League.

Weatherspoon, 53, who recently served as director of player and franchise development for the WNBA's New York Liberty, was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in September.

She becomes the second WNBA legend to join the team this offseason. The Pelicans hired Swin Cash to be the vice president of basketball operations and team development in June. Cash and Weatherspoon worked together with the Liberty in the front office in recent years.

Weatherspoon was an inaugural member of the Liberty and also played for the Los Angeles Sparks. She also was head coach at Louisiana Tech.

As a player at Louisiana Tech, Weatherspoon led the team to the national championship in 1988, winning the Wade Trophy as the player of the year. She also was a member of the Olympic gold medal team in 1988.

She played internationally before the WNBA launched in 1997. As a member of the Liberty, she hit a memorable half-court shot to force a deciding Game 3 of the 1999 WNBA Finals against Houston.

Diggs played college basketball at California from 2000 to 2004, appearing in 116 games before playing briefly in the G League.