Adia Barnes to appear on NBC’s Inspiring America primetime special on Saturday

Adia Barnes’ popularity has soared ever since she led the Arizona women’s basketball team to the national championship game, and Saturday she will appear on NBC’s primetime special called “Inspiring America: The 2021 Inspiration List.”

The show highlights Americans who make an impact in their local communities. It will be hosted by Lester Holt, Savannah Guthrie and Hoda Kotb and air Saturday, May 1 at 7 p.m. Arizona time on NBC and Telemundo.

Part of Barnes’ appearance will include a Zoom interview with San Antonio Spurs assistant coach Becky Hammon, who became the first woman to be a full-time assistant coach in NBA history as well as the first-ever woman head coach in the NBA. (She took over when Gregg Popovich was ejected from a game.)

Among other things, Barnes has become a role model for young women who hope to coach one day after a story came out that she was pumping breastmilk at halftime of the national championship game.