Kara Lawson coaching timeline: Inside former WNBA star’s rise to lead Duke to

The Duke Blue Devils women’s basketball program is headed to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2018. Leading the charge on the sideline is Kara Lawson, who is in her fourth season at the helm.

It hasn’t taken long for Lawson to rise into stardom as one of the biggest names in coaching. The No. 5 pick in the 2003 WNBA Draft, Lawson first got into broadcasting during her playing career, taking over as the Wizards’ primary TV analyst in 2017. She took a small step back from the broadcast booth to join the Celtics as an assistant coach in 2019.

Duke poached Lawson from the Celtics at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 but things got out to a rocky start, to say the least. Less than four years later, the program is four wins away from its first-ever national title.

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How has Lawson made such a meteoric rise in the coaching ranks? Here is a closer look at her path and what she’s done for Duke’s women’s program in four short years.

Kara Lawson coaching timeline

USA Basketball (3×3 head coach, 5×5 assistant coach)

Seasons coached: 2017-Present

Lawson, who, as a player, won a gold medal for Team USA at the 2008 Olympics, has worn several hats for the USA Basketball program.

In 2017, Lawson led the women’s USA Basketball to gold at the 3×3 U18 World Cup and the 2018 Youth Olympic Games and led the men’s team to gold at the 2018 FIBA 3×3 U18 World Cup. She led both the men’s and women’s teams to gold at the 2019 Pan American Games.

Lawson led the senior Women’s National 3×3 Team to gold at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. More recently, she served as an assistant coach for the Senior Women’s National 5×5 team at the FIBA Women’s World Cup in 2022.

Boston Celtics (assistant coach)

Seasons coached: 2019-20

In 2019, then-Celtics head coach Brad Stevens added Lawson to the staff, making the 13-year WNBA veteran the first female assistant coach in the franchise’s storied history.

“She is as sharp as they come,” Stevens said of Lawson during an interview on ESPN. “We’re excited to have her on board. She’s really excited to get going. … Thank goodness she’s on our staff. I think she’ll do a great, great job for us.”

During the NBA Restart at the Walt Disney World Resort in the summer of 2020, Duke announced that it had hired Lawson as its next head coach of the women’s basketball team.

The news was met with widespread support from the Celtics team, who sent their head coach off with well wishes ahead of the 2020 NBA Playoffs.

Celtics players all rocked Duke gear to support assistant coach Kara Lawson before she starts as head coach with the Blue Devils women’s team ???? pic.twitter.com/lqqAonfbKq

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) July 14, 2020

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Duke women’s basketball (head coach)

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