The New Orleans Pelicans announced their coaching staff under Stan Van Gundy on Monday afternoon and the team is elevating Naismith Hall of Famer and WNBA legend Teresa Weatherspoon to a full-time coaching position.
Weatherspoon, 54, becomes the eighth full-time female assistant coach in the NBA. She joined the New Orleans Pelicans' organization last as a two-way player development coach who split her time between New Orleans and the team's G-League affiliate in Erie, Pennsylvania. Now, she'll spend all of her time with the Pelicans.
Weatherspoon was a two-time WNBA Defensive Player of the Year, a five-time All-Star and a four-time second-team selection in her playing career. She was also the women's head coach at Louisiana Tech, her alma mater, from 2009 to 2014. She led them to a pair of regular-season conference titles in 2009 and 2011 and a conference tournament title in 2010.
She joins Toronto's Brittni Donaldson, Cleveland's Lindsay Gottlieb, Dallas' Jenny Boucek, San Antonio's Becky Hammon and Memphis' Sonia Raman as women who are on-the-bench assistants in the NBA, while Sacramento's Lindsey Harding and the Los Angeles Clippers' Natalie Nakase are full-time player development assistant coaches with their respective franchises.
The Pelicans are also bringing in a pair of former NBAers -- Corey Brewer and Beno Udrih -- to join as player development coaches. Brewer, who actually played five games in the bubble with Sacramento, wraps up a 13-year career to join New Orleans while Udrih, whose 13-year career ended after playing for Van Gundy in Detroit in 2016-17, spent last season as an assistant coach in the G-League with the Westchester Knicks.
In New Orleans, Weatherspoon joins Van Gundy's staff that also is bringing in Bob Beyer, Casey Hill and Rex Walters. Beyer has spent nine seasons as an assistant coach with Van Gundy during his time in Detroit and Orlando.
Hill joins the Pelicans after spending the last two seasons with the Los Angeles Clippers while Walters, who was with Van Gundy in Detroit for the 2017-18 season, was an assistant coach at Wake Forest last year.
New Orleans is keeping Fred Vinson on the staff, as he is set to begin his 11th season with the club. Vinson received high praise last season for his work in helping Lonzo Ball and Brandon Ingram raise their three-point percentages.