Nancy Lieberman to coach Frisco D-League team

The incoming NBA Development League franchise in suburban Dallas, co-owned by Dallas Mavericks president of basketball operations Donnie Nelson and scheduled to begin play in the 2010-11 season, has made a bold choice for its first head coach: Nancy Lieberman.

Lieberman, an ESPN television analyst, is poised to become the first woman to be a head coach the D-League, which sent 20 players to the NBA last season and is widely regarded as the most scouted league in the world outside of the NBA.

Sources close to the situation told ESPN.com Nelson’s ownership group has secured approval from the NBA to hire Lieberman to coach the yet-to-be-named team based in Frisco, Texas, which will serve as the Mavericks’ D-League affiliate next season. A formal announcement of her hiring is expected this week, possibly as soon as Wednesday.