‘It’s A Privilege’: Nola Henry Details Joining Las Vegas Aces And What She’ll Bring to Becky Hammon’s Staff

LAS VEGAS — After finishing the 2025 WNBA season with the Dallas Wings, Nola Henry joins the Las Vegas Aces as an assistant coach. It presents an opportunity to join one of the league’s premier organizations at a time when the franchise is coming off a championship run.

Henry detailed what drew her to join the Aces and how the process unfolded. For her, it was about finding the right fit — joining an organization where she could learn and grow alongside a staff that includes fellow assistants Charlene Thomas-Swinson, Larry Lewis, and Ty Ellis.

“Anytime you get to join an organization, such a high-level organization — honestly, the standard around our league — it’s a privilege,” Henry said. “And so I’ll treat it as such. It feels like an honor to be able to learn under Becky, obviously one of the greatest basketball minds. So I’m excited to just learn and soak up all the knowledge from, honestly, everybody on staff. We got some guys who coach at different levels. You got NBA, you got G League, college, all of the things.

“So I just plan to, you know, try to make an impact and get in where I fit in, as well as just soak up some knowledge and just, you know, find ways to serve,” she explained.

Nola Henry’s Rise from Connecticut Sun Intern to WNBA Assistant

Service is a word Henry comes back to often, and it tracks with how she actually built her career. She didn’t start on a coaching staff. She started as an intern with the Connecticut Sun in 2020, worked her way up to assistant basketball operations manager over two seasons, then moved into player development with the Los Angeles Sparks in 2023 before being elevated to assistant coach the following year. Before any of that, she was a graduate assistant at Fairleigh Dickinson University and Hartford, and a two-year starter at the College of Charleston after transferring from UMass. Nothing was handed to her, and she makes no effort to obscure that.

“Yeah, that’s a great question. I think it’s just a part of like not skipping steps,” Henry said. “I started as an intern in Connecticut and I then was equipment manager and then it just took root from there. Player development, assistant coach, all of the things. So it’s obviously very humble beginnings, but I wouldn’t have it any other way in terms of, you know, not having any handouts, working for every single thing. I take pride in that.”

Henry doesn’t describe those early years as something she endured, but as something she was good at, and something most people never saw.

“I don’t want any favors or anything like that. I think my work ethic will show for itself, and I’ve really taken pride in that, just being an extremely hard worker,” Henry said. “And a lot of that is not always seen. Like when I was an intern, I was a hard worker. When I was equipment manager, I worked really hard as an equipment manager to make sure, you know, all the gear was correct. And then when I got an opportunity, you know, to be in a coaching position, that work ethic never changed.”

She went from equipment manager to head coach and back to assistant by choice — and the consistency she describes isn’t just about effort. It’s about how she measures her own contribution regardless of where her name sits on the staff sheet.

“Same thing as going from an assistant to a head coach. The one constant that I would say is just one, the work ethic and the grind behind the scenes, that it takes hours of film and, you know, studying the game,” Henry said. “But then also just like serving, like in any position, how can I serve the players? That’s what it’s ultimately about. And then obviously, how can I serve, you know, the staff, the head coach, assistants? So it’s been very much so work ethic. As well as just being a servant and just trying to make an impact there.”

Players notice. Henry mentioned Alyssa Thomas, DeWanna Bonner, and Natisha Heideman — all players she worked with early in her career in Connecticut — as people who still tell her she hasn’t changed. That kind of feedback isn’t incidental to her. It’s the metric she actually cares about.

“And then a lot of it is just being authentically myself and not changing,” Henry said. “Players can attest, like I talked to Alyssa Thomas still, and obviously DeWanna Bonner. Those are some players that I started with when I was in Connecticut, and they’re like, wow, you really — and Heideman — you haven’t changed this whole time. And it’s like, yeah, the role has changed, but I still always stay true to who I am. Nothing has really much changed except for the titles.”

Her relationship with Becky Hammon before all of this was essentially nonexistent beyond the kind of mutual awareness that builds over years of crossing paths at arenas. They’d spoken in passing, shaken hands after games, acknowledged each other in hallways. Nothing deeper than that — until one specific moment in South Bend last year stuck with Henry in a way she still remembers clearly.

“Honestly, I didn’t have a personal relationship with Becky prior to joining the staff,” Henry said. “That all kind of came into fruition as I’ve obviously always seen her on the road. We played against each other for the last several years, whether I was with the Sparks, Connecticut, or Dallas. And so I’ve always admired her from a distance. I always spoke and just said hello in passing, shake hands after the game, all of the things.”

Hammon was direct about what she saw in Henry when the hire was announced.

“Nola brings a fresh, young coaching perspective to our group this year,” Hammon said. “She’s a very cerebral coach who sees the game at a high level and the way she can connect with players on and off the court will be a valuable asset to our staff. She brings great energy to the group, along with a wealth of WNBA experience, and that will be advantageous as we seek our fourth championship this season.”

The Aces had come to Indiana for a preseason game during the first week of the Wings’ schedule. After the final buzzer, Hammon sought Henry out.

“And I remember very vividly last year after winning Unrivaled when the first time we played the Aces, actually when it was during the preseason game when we were in Indiana, South Bend, she came up to me after the game and just was like, hey, congrats on Unrivaled,” Henry said. “And I just remember being super excited. Like, obviously I knew she watched Unrivaled because Chelsea Gray, but it was still just such a — almost a surreal moment for me at that time to just be acknowledged by somebody I used to watch play as well as somebody that I admire from a coaching standpoint.”

The Thorough Evaluation: Inside the Las Vegas Aces’ Hiring Process

Once Henry found out she wasn’t returning to Dallas, she started making calls. The timing was awkward — Unrivaled was still running in Miami — but the Aces came to her. Becky Hammon and general manager Nikki Fargas made the trip down to watch Jackie Young and Chelsea Gray, leading to an informal first conversation.

“So from there, once I found that I wasn’t going back to Dallas, I kind of just put some feelers out,” Henry said. “And I was just trying to find where all the open opportunities would be. Obviously, we were down in Miami, so it was kind of hard in the middle of an Unrivaled season, but they came down to come and watch Jackie and Chelsea. And so I got an opportunity to just kind of meet with her and Nikki just around the table, just having a conversation, super informal. And then from there, it just took form in the terms of just an interview process.”

What followed surprised her — not because it was difficult, but because it was thorough in a way that most processes aren’t. She flew to Las Vegas on an off day, went through the full interview, and toured the facility. She was also talking to other teams at the same time, and Vegas stood apart specifically because of how seriously they took the evaluation.

“During Unrivaled, during the off day, I flew out to Vegas, had the opportunity to go through the entire interview process, which was very thorough,” Henry said. “So I respected that a lot. Had the opportunity, as I said, to fly out, see Vegas, feel Vegas, experience the organization, see the practice facility, all of the things. And then from there, it was just a matter of if I had the opportunity, I knew it was something that I wouldn’t pass on.”

The diligence read to her as a sign of organizational culture, not just protocol.

“How diligent it was, because obviously I was interviewing with multiple different teams and Vegas was just like so diligent in the process in terms of just doing their due diligence, making sure, you know, every I was dotted, and every T was crossed,” Henry said. “And it was, it was extremely thorough, which I respected a lot because it was like, okay, you’re, you’re really trying, you’re really sifting through people to try to figure out, you know, in a way who best fits what you’re looking for.”

She continued: “No cutting corners, no skipping steps. Like, I went through a pretty, you know, I wouldn’t say extensive, but maybe extensive interview process. And that to me just made me have even more respect for the organization because it’s like, okay, now I understand. I completely understand why it’s a championship organization because of, you know, how thorough it is.”

Coaching Chelsea Gray and Building Relationships with A’ja Wilson

Part of what makes Las Vegas appealing on a personal level is that Henry already has a working relationship with one of its key players. She coached Chelsea Gray during Unrivaled and describes their dynamic less as coach-player and more as two basketball minds who genuinely enjoy talking through the game together.

“Chelsea, obviously, an amazing person, an amazing player, someone who I have a high level of respect for,” Henry said. “So I continue — I anticipate it will be more of the same. Just two people that love basketball, love winning, love talking about basketball, love thinking the game, just kind of bouncing ideas off of each other.”

That kind of back-and-forth is central to how Henry thinks about her job at this level — not directives flowing one way, but an ongoing dialogue across the full shape of a season.

“Touching base on just concepts, themes, all of the things that, you know, go — that you go through throughout the course of a season, culture things, schemes, strategies, all the things,” Henry said. “So I anticipated being more of that as well as obviously I’ll be in a little bit of a different role, but this is kind of the role that I enjoy the most. Being a head coach is cool, but I like the assistant side of things because I like to kind of be behind the scenes grinding.”

She was asked whether she’d be focused on a specific area of the Aces’ program. Her answer was immediate and unsurprising, given everything else she’d said: whatever is needed.

“Not necessarily. I think anytime any organization, any coaching staff is usually all hands on deck,” Henry said. “I’m sure I’ll have a hand in a variety of different things, whether that’s on the court with players as well as other assistant coaches and the player development coach, as well as some scouting stuff. Just all of the things being an assistant coach. There’s a lot of roles and responsibilities. They’re not — it’s not really a one thing.”

Building relationships with players is a longer process than most people outside the game realize, and Henry is deliberate about not rushing it. She spent last season working closely with Paige Bueckers and Arike Ogunbowale in Dallas, and she’s clear that what made those relationships work wasn’t any particular coaching moment — it was proximity and time.

“You just got to kind of be ready to do whatever, offense, defense, wherever I’m needed,” Henry said. “That’s kind of been my approach — there’s no task too big, no task too small. I’ll do whatever. So whatever Becky needs me to do is what I’m gonna do.”

“Obviously, Paige and Arike, two really good players that I have a high level of respect for, not just as players but as people,” Henry added. “Those are two people that I built relationships with and so I expect more of the same. It takes time to build relationships with players, and it’s not something that you rush or try to — that I’ve ever tried to rush or force. It’s something that just happens naturally.”

She said the rhythm of a season helps those relationships take shape.

“As you know, going through the course of a basketball season, what people don’t really understand is you’re together every single day,” Henry said. “So naturally, those relationships kind of unfold, whether it’s in practice, you’re given a tip on this, or in film you say this, or maybe, you know, on the plane, whatever the case is. There’s a lot of opportunity to just kind of build relationships.”

In Las Vegas, the roster she’s walking into includes A’ja Wilson and Jackie Young — two of the best players in the league. She’s excited to coach them. She’s also characteristically excited to get to know them.

“And so I’m excited to coach A’ja Wilson. I’m excited to coach Jackie Young, but I’m also excited to build relationships with them as people and as humans first,” Henry said.

Preseason Reunion: Nola Henry Previews the Matchup Against the Dallas Wings

There’s a wrinkle to the early part of the Aces’ schedule worth noting. Las Vegas and Dallas are set to meet in preseason at Moody Center in Austin on May 3, and Henry — who spent an entire season inside the Wings’ program — will be on the opposing bench with a detailed read on exactly how their players operate.

“I’m excited to be in Austin. Obviously, I think that’s the first time the WNBA teams have played there,” Henry said. “And so I’m excited to be a part of that and just be in Austin.”

She didn’t dance around what that familiarity means competitively.

“Obviously, there’s a mutual respect between the players that I coached on the Wings and myself, but I’m going to obviously do the best that I can to give the most detail-oriented scout of the Dallas Wings because I do have experience with them,” Henry said. “I think that that’s an area where I can, you know, give us a little bit of a competitive edge with knowing all of the players’ tendencies.”

Jose Fernandez brought in an entirely new staff in Dallas, but Henry’s point is that schemes change faster than habits do.

“Obviously, it’s a new system with Jose coming in, but the players’ tendencies aren’t changing, and I know them pretty well because I spent an entire season working with them,” Henry said. “So I’m excited to go to Dallas and try to beat up on them.”

Her season with the Wings gave her extended reps alongside high-level players at a critical stage of her coaching development and set her up to make an impact for a championship organization from day one. Now in Las Vegas, the environment she described throughout this conversation — thorough, demanding, and built on accountability — is exactly what she was looking for.

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