Hammon, Brondello 1st ex-players to meet for WNBA title as coaches in Liberty-Aces showdown

Becky Hammon sent Sandy Brondello a text before the WNBA season started with a simple few words: "This is about to be fun."

It has been for Hammon's defending champion Las Vegas Aces and Brondello and the New York Liberty. Now when the two preseason favourites to win it all meet in the WNBA Finals they will be the first former players to meet as head coaches for the championship.

With New York building a formidable team in the offseason through free agency and trades with the additions of Breanna Stewart, Jonquel Jones and Courtney Vandersloot, Hammon knew A'ja Wilson, Chelsea Gray and the rest of the Aces were going to have a new threat to their title defence led by her former coach in San Antonio.

She wasn't wrong. The first-place Aces and the second-seeded Liberty will tip off the highly anticipated showdown in the best-of-five WNBA Finals on Sunday.

"We have a lot of mutual respect. I coached Becky and she was one of the smartest players around," Brondello said. "Let's have a fun time and see where it goes. We'll compete but have great sportsmanship, hopefully it's great basketball."

Both Hammon and Brondello have already won titles as coaches but there is much at stake in this one: Las Vegas is looking to become the first team to repeat as champions since Los Angeles did it in 2001-02; New York is trying to win its first championship ever.

Hammon and Brondello competed against each other as players and tried to win a championship together in San Antonio.

The former point guards squared off before Brondello retired and got her start as an assistant coach with the then-Silver Stars in 2005. Hammon joined San Antonio as a player in 2007 after a stellar career with the Liberty.

Hammon has a lot of respect for Brondello