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From corporate lawyer to MIT to the NBA

The most improbable job offer of the NBA offseason even surprised its recipient.

Sonia Raman never thought an NBA franchise would hire a woman who wasn’t a former college or WNBA star and who only had off-the-radar coaching experience.

For the past 12 years, Raman has toiled in lower-division obscurity as the women’s basketball coach at MIT, an institution better known for producing aerospace engineers than athletes. MIT women’s basketball had never even reached the Division III NCAA tournament until Raman produced back-to-back appearances in 2018 and 2019.

The Memphis Grizzlies first stumbled across Raman more than a year ago while searching for potential interns with backgrounds in math and basketball.