Skyhawks assistant Kari Korver has been fortunate to have a lot of mentors who have poured themselves into her life. Now, the 31-year-old is passing along that knowledge.
She brought a perspective that Skyhawks coach and Hawks assistant Steve Klei knew would benefit his coaching staff. Korver, a four-time captain at UCLA and a native of Paramount, California, played from 2012-17 (sitting out 2013-14 because of an ACL injury). She finished tied for the most 3-pointers made in Bruins history, with 256.
After playing with the TH Wohnbau Angels in Germany, she returned to U.S. where she coached for two seasons as an assistant for the Northern Colorado women’s basketball team. She served as director of basketball operations with the Los Angeles Sparks from 2020-22, where she helped with scouting, according to OC Register. Korver also handled logistic duties, like team travel and housing.
When the Skyhawks hired Korver last summer, she became the second female assistant in Skyhawks history and is one of the few women coaches currently in the G League.
Each of the stops along Korver’s career path have come thanks to prayer and the relationships she has built.
" I think it’s always gonna come back to the relationships,” Korver said. “And I think we know this about sports, it just, it allows you to be around people you maybe would’ve never been around. Getting to go to Europe and play and meet those players, just being a completely different culture. And getting to, obviously, be in Georgia now or be in Colorado. And just all the different people you meet and how you can carry, not all those relationships stay, but a lot of them do.”
As a 5-foot-9 guard playing Division I basketball, Korver had to figure out all of the little things that could help her gain an advantage in the game. In watching her older cousin Kyle Korver, a former Hawks star and currently the team’s assistant general manager, she learned how to speed the release of her jumpers.
“To be able to watch what he did throughout his career, he was drafted when I was going into fourth grade, and so to be able to watch him at 4:30 p.m. after school and see him get his shot off versus who he played against,” Korver said. “And then just try to implement some of that myself, I think that’s ultimately what gave me the opportunity to play at a high level. But I think I just had those questions of ‘Man, am I gonna be fast enough? Yeah. Am I gonna be tall enough?’ Like this, it’s definitely a big factor.”
But Korver credits the doubts she had throughout her playing career for ultimately helping her to become a better teacher and a more effective coach. For the 31-year-old, pushing through self-doubt forced her to figure out how to find little details that will give players even the smallest of advantages — such as bending legs before catching the ball for a jumper.
“I think people over time showed me that in different areas, too, ‘Hey, you can do this if you change this technique here and if you can use your brain differently here,‘” Korver said. “Because you can compensate for weaknesses with your IQ in a lot of ways. And so that’s what’s cool about coaching is for each individual, what are those inches or what are those IQ things or what are those like physical techniques.”
Leaning on consistent work with the players and different technology, like recording practices, has helped Korver to help set Skyhawks players up for success.
This season, Korver and the Skyhawks coaching staff used practice film to come up with drills to build up players’ skills on both sides of the ball. It has allowed them to track everything and then later discuss the changes that could help guys implement what they work on in practice to the games.
Korver has leaned on Hawks assistant Brittni Donaldson on how to more effectively implement the data into practice.
" It’s been awesome,” Korver said. “She’s just really generous with showing me some of the things that she’s been able to provide Quin Snyder and the Hawks staff. She has much more of an analytics background than I do and so I think even just getting some of the basics from her, and then Steve he really cares about analytics too.”
The Skyhawks staff viewed defense as a skill that could translate more easily if a player got transferred to the Hawks or another NBA team.
This season, Hawks forward/center Dominick Barlow earned a multiyear contract with the main franchise after beginning the year on a two-way deal. Barlow averaged 21.8 points, 8.4 rebounds, 1.4 assists and 1.2 steals on a career-best 33.3% shooting from 3. He has since begun to play more significant minutes with the Hawks after injuries decimated their center rotation, and he has taken that increased responsibility in stride.
Like Barlow, Hawks forward Mouhamed Gueye, who averaged 15 points, 10.2 rebounds and two assists per game in the G League, spent a significant chunk of his season with the Skyhawks, as part of his development. The Hawks have since bumped Gueye into the starting lineup, with Jalen Johnson out for the rest of the season.
The Skyhawks also saw guard Keaton Wallace and forward Daeqwon Plowden — both on two-way contracts — contribute significantly in the Hawks’ Jan. 15 win over the Bulls. The Hawks sat multiple rotational players, and Wallace started at point guard, while Plowden came off the bench for his NBA debut.
Wallace scored a career-high 27 points, which Plowden added 19 points on 4-of-6 shooting from 3.
" It was really rewarding,” Korver said. “Because I think we all try to keep that in mind all the time. Even if (the Skyhawks) are winning games or losing games, the end goal is that (the players) are able to go up there and thrive. And to see them do that, especially with how good of guys they are, too.
“I think our, Hawks front office and then I think Aaron (Evans) and Phil (Jones), for our front office, they’ve done a really good job of finding just humans that you just naturally want to root for and you want them to succeed.”
The Skyhawks season ended Saturday, wrapping up a collaborative season among the coaching staff. For Korver, it continues a career where she has felt fortunate to be in places where she can consistently add to her tool belt.
“I’m excited just to just be in the present right now and have this opportunity,” Korver said.
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