The Stockton Kings, the Sacramento Kings’ G League affiliate, named Lindsey Harding as the team’s head coach and Anjali Ranadivé as its new general manager on Tuesday, marking the first time two women will lead a G League affiliate.
Harding will become the second woman to ever coach a professional men’s basketball team in the U.S., after Nancy Lieberman made history coaching the Texas Legends, the Dallas Mavericks’ G League affiliate, during the 2010–11 season. Ranadivé is the second woman to be a general manager for a G League team, after Tori Miller became the general manager of the College Park Skyhawks, the Atlanta Hawks’ affiliate, in July 2020.
Who is Lindsey Harding?
Harding had a decorated playing career before becoming a coach. At Duke, she was named the 2007 Naismith College Player of the Year and was selected as the top overall pick in the 2007 WNBA draft by the Phoenix Mercury before she was traded to the Minnesota Lynx. Harding played nine seasons with six teams in the WNBA, as well as overseas and representing Belarus in the 2016 Olympics.
After retiring in 2016, Harding became the pro personnel scout for the Philadelphia 76ers during the 2018-19 season and later a player development coach. She then spent four seasons with the Kings as an assistant and player development coach and was part of the 2022-23 team that ended the longest playoff drought in NBA history.
Harding is also the Mexico women’s national team coach.
Who is Anjali Ranadivé?
The daughter of Kings owner Vivek Ranadivé, Ranadivé spent the past season serving as Stockton’s assistant general manager. She previously worked as Sacramento’s social responsibility coordinator and was an intern for the Golden State Warriors during college.
Ranadivé also was the founder of Jaws and Paws, an animal rescue and wildlife conservation nonprofit with a wolf-dog and animal sanctuary in Northern California.
