Los Angeles Sparks forward Dearica Hamby has filed a discrimination lawsuit against the WNBA and Las Vegas Aces after she was traded to the Sparks from the Aces allegedly due to her pregnancy. The lawsuit comes after a previous investigation from the WNBA resulted in a two-game suspension and loss of a 2025 first-round draft pick for Hammon and the Aces.

Hamby, who signed a contract extension with the Aces back in June 2022 before Las Vegas traded her to the Sparks in January, alleges that Aces coach Becky Hammon accused her of signing the extension while knowing she was pregnant.

In a post back in January, Hamby initially shared a statement when she was traded. In part, the statement said, “I was accused of signing my extension knowingly pregnant. This is false. I was told that I was ‘a question mark’ and that it was said that I said I would ‘get pregnant again’ and there was a concern for my level of commitment to the team.”

Coach Hammon replied to the allegations back in May, saying, “[Hamby's pregnancy] wasn't a problem, and it never was why we made the decision. We made the decision to move Hamby because we could get three bodies in her one contract, and we wanted to get three more people in. I think it's very evident [with] who we signed on why we made the move.

“It came down to math in business. That's all it was. Nothing personal. I had a great relationship with Hamby the whole time. Which is why she probably felt the way she did. You know, it feels like a betrayal. But like I said, it's a crappy part of my job, but somebody's got to be the bearer of bad news,” via Myron Medcalf of ESPN.

Dearica Hamby, who was part of the Aces 2022 championship winning team, gave birth to her second child back in March. She returned to play for the Sparks following her pregnancy, starting 19 games this year.