Kara Lawson says the lessons she picked up in Boston still shape the way she runs Duke.
On Jason Garrett’s Coach2Coach podcast, the Blue Devils women’s basketball coach looked back on her time with the Celtics and the influence Brad Stevens had on her early coaching path. Lawson said Stevens set the tone not just with basketball, but with how he handled people.
"The way he treats people with respect, the way he develops camaraderie within the group, I had a really great time with him," said Lawson. "I took a lot of how he coaches and how he deals with people. How he makes everybody feel a part of it, I think, is what I took from my time with him in Boston."
Lawson’s road to coaching came after a standout playing career. The Virginia native starred for Pat Summitt at Tennessee, then went on to become a WNBA All-Star and champion. Her first coaching stop came with the Celtics, where Stevens - now the president of basketball operations - made a strong impression.
What Lawson took from that experience was bigger than X’s and O’s. Stevens gave people responsibility, pushed them with demanding tasks, and still backed them up. For Lawson, it was the right place to learn how a head coach builds a team culture from the ground up.
She told Garrett there was no one she would have rather learned under in that first year on the bench.
Those Boston lessons have clearly traveled with her to Durham. Lawson has used the same ideas about inclusion, trust and shared ownership to help drive Duke’s rise. The Blue Devils have won two straight ACC Tournament titles, and in 2025-26 they were the best team in the ACC during the regular season as Lawson earned the conference’s Coach of the Year award.
Duke is now chasing a fifth straight NCAA Tournament berth. Each of the last four runs has reached at least the second round, including a Sweet Sixteen trip and an Elite Eight appearance in the last two years.
Lawson has wasted little time establishing herself as one of the sport’s top coaches, and her Celtics stint with Stevens helped lay the foundation for that climb.
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