LeBron: 'It means a lot' to have women coaching in the NBA

The only thing that matters when it comes to coaching NBA basketball is the game itself.

LeBron James threw his support behind the idea of a woman serving as the head coach of an NBA team, and dismissed any notion that gender has anything to do with how effective a coach would be.

"I mean, if she knows what she's doing, we'll love it," James told ESPN's Dave McMenamin. "I mean, listen, at the end of the day, basketball ... it's not about male or female. You know the game, you know the game."

James cited San Antonio Spurs assistant coach Becky Hammon as an example of the importance of having a woman represent a franchise on the bench - especially one led by a coach as well respected as Gregg Popovich.

"Obviously, you guys know how fond I am of coach Pop, so for him to bring Becky in there to be able to be an assistant and kind of give her input - I don't quite know how much input she has, I'm not there on a day-to-day basis - but just having her face there, it means a lot," James said. "There's also some female coaches in the NFL as well too. It's cool. If you know the game, you know the game. I love talking the game, so I don't think of it being a problem at all."

Hammon was the first woman to be hired as a full-time assistant coach in NBA history when the Spurs brought her on board in 2014. The Sacramento Kings followed suit in 2015, hiring former WNBA and G League coach Nancy Lieberman and adding longtime WNBA coach Jenny Boucek this past October.