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Story by Cassandra Cousineau Photos by Hugh Byrne
Less than a week after former Las Vegas Aces player Dearica Hamby sued the Aces and WNBA in a pregnancy discrimination lawsuit, litigant Hamby and the Los Angeles Sparks battled the Aces on the hardwood court seeking their third win of the season against the two-time defending league champs Sunday.
But after losing to their rival, the New York Liberty, 24 hours earlier, the Aces earned a much-needed win against Hamby and the Sparks, 87-71, at Mandalay Bay’s Michelob Ultra Arena where Hamby was booed by Aces fans. Attendance was announced at 10,300.
The Hamby allegations are not new. Only her formal lawsuit was new when it filed in federal court in Las Vegas six days ago.
At the end of the 2024 season, the league rescinded the Aces’ 2025 first-round draft pick while head coach Becky Hammon was suspended for two games without pay for violating WNBA “respect in the workplace policies,” as a result of Hamby’s claims in May 2023.
The Aces maintained Hamby’s pregnancy announcement and subsequent trade was also a matter of timing as Candace Parker, one of the WNBA’s best players in history, was available. Las Vegas sent Hamby and a first-round pick to the Sparks for a 2024 second-round pick and the negotiating rights to forward Amanda Zahui B.
LVSportsBiz.com asked Hammon about the Hamby lawsuit after the game.
“Nobody made a call about trading her,” Hammon said after Aces’ win.
After her trade to the Los Angeles Sparks, Hamby released a statement on social media accusing Las Vegas of “traumatizing” statements.
Last week, Hamby took her case one step further in a federal discrimination complaint against the WNBA and the Las Vegas Aces, claiming the Aces traded her because she was pregnant and that the league did not adequately investigate.
The lawsuit includes a lot of claims including an allegation that the team dragged its feet and ultimately failed to pay for her daughter’s private school tuition, and asked her to leave team provided housing without ample notice.
It’s a tough pill to swallow for a team which is led by a front office mostly composed of women and mothers. The Parker trade also never quite fulfilled expectations as the soon to be WNBA Hall-of-Famer was mostly injured, unable to compete during the team’s championship run, and retired before the start of the 2024 season.
According to the court document, Hamby is seeking unspecified punitive and compensatory damages.
The sold out Aces crowd greeted the former Vegas favorite with loud boos throughout her game introduction and whenever Hamby touched the ball at the free throw line.
Hamby’s attorney statement: “The WNBA is, at its core, a workplace, and federal laws have long shielded pregnant women from discrimination on the job. The world champion Aces exiled Dearica Hamby for becoming pregnant and the WNBA responded with a light tap on the wrist. Every potential mother in the league is now on notice that childbirth could change their career prospects overnight. That can’t be right in one of the most prosperous and dynamic women’s professional sports leagues in America.”
Aces statement: “The WNBA’s determinations about Becky Hammon are inconsistent with what we know and love about her. Becky is a caring human being who forges close personal relationships with her players. We stand behind Coach Hammon as she continues to lead the Las Vegas Aces.”
Hamby’s former front line mate, A’ja Wilson, had another MVP-level game for the Aces with 34 points and 13 rebounds to lead the WNBA titlists to the win after a disappointing loss to the Liberty on the same court Saturday.
The Aces won their 17th game against nine losses, while the Sparks dropped to 6-21, which is tied with Washington for the WNBA’s worst record. Going into Sunday’s game, two of the six Sparks’ wins were against Las Vegas.