Former Aces player files lawsuit against team, WNBA

Los Angeles Sparks forward Dearica Hamby filed a federal lawsuit Monday against the WNBA and her former team, the Aces.

The complaint, filed in Las Vegas, alleges “repeated acts of intimidation, discrimination and retaliation” leading up to and following Hamby’s trade to the Sparks in January 2023 when she was pregnant with her second child.

Hamby is seeking undisclosed damages due to the loss of “reputational prestige” associated with playing for the back-to-back WNBA champions. The filing also claims she lost marketing and endorsement opportunities by being forced to move from Las Vegas to Los Angeles. She is looking for compensation for emotional damages as well.

A WNBA spokesperson said the league is “aware of the legal filing” and reviewing it. The Aces did not respond to a request for comment.

Hamby previously filed a charge of discrimination against the Aces and the WNBA with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in September 2023. She received a “Notice of the Right to Sue” from the EEOC.

Hamby’s lawsuit relies on Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, which protects employees and job applicants from employment discrimination based on race, color, religion and sex. It makes discrimination based on pregnancy against the law.

The WNBA investigated the Aces’ handling of Hamby’s trade soon after the deal was done.

Coach Becky Hammon was suspended two games without pay as a result of the league’s probe. The team also lost a 2025 first-round pick for violating rules regarding impermissible player benefits and respect in the workplace policies.

Hamby, a three-time WNBA All Star, is represented by Dana Sniegocki, Erin Norgaard, and Artur Davis of HKM Employment Attorneys.

Her lawyers claim the WNBA’s punishment for the Aces wasn’t severe enough based on the treatment Hamby allegedly faced. They also say it wasn’t significant enough to prevent similar incidents in the future.

“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,” the three attorneys said in a statement. “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.”

The accusations

Hamby claims in the filing the Aces promised to provide her housing accommodations and cover private school tuition costs for her oldest child, daughter Amaya, as the two sides negotiated a contract extension that was agreed to in June 2022.

Hamby said she discovered she was pregnant a month after the deal was done. She announced her pregnancy during the Aces’ championship parade in September 2022.

Hamby alleges she was treated differently after the parade. She claims Aces general manager Natalie Williams did not provide a timeline for when Amaya’s tuition money would be available and asked Hamby to move out of the team-provided housing.

The lawsuit accuses Williams of lying on a radio show by saying the Aces were aware Hamby was pregnant when they extended her contract. It also alleges that Williams tried to obtain Hamby’s medical records after she was no longer part of the team.

The filing claims Hammon told Hamby that she was not taking the proper precautions to avoid pregnancy during a phone call in January 2023. It alleges Hammon referred to Hamby as a “question mark” and said the team “needed bodies” on the floor. Those alleged statements were included in Hamby’s EEOC complaint.

When Hamby asked during the phone call if she was being traded because she was pregnant, Hammon allegedly answered, “What do you want me to do?”

Hammon denied bullying or harassing Hamby in May 2023.

The filing claims the WNBA did not do enough to protect Hamby’s rights. It accuses the league of failing to interview Aces players for its investigation, something Hamby says would have provided more evidence for her side of the story.

The lawsuit also says the WNBA did not extend Hamby’s marketing contract with the league after she went forward with her discrimination claims, costing her money that supplemented her salary.

Contact Callie Lawson-Freeman at clawsonfreeman@reviewjournal.com. Follow @CallieJLaw on X.