LOS ANGELES – When the Los Angeles Sparks lost franchise cornerstone Nneka Ogwumike to free agency ahead of the 2024 WNBA season, the team was officially in rebuilding mode. But even in a rebuild, teams need capable veterans on the roster, leaders who can keep the team together. For the Sparks, part of that role has fallen on Dearica Hamby.

Hamby is now one of the longest-tenured players on the team having been on the roster since 2023. She was originally acquired in a trade with the Las Vegas Aces, and has emerged as a critical voice on and off the court. Hamby is one of the team’s most fundamental players, and commands respect in the locker room.

In each of the three seasons that Dearica Hamby played for the Sparks, the team has failed to make to the playoffs. But in those seasons, the Sparks have been rewarded through the draft lottery. In 2024 they landed Cameron Brink and Rickea Jackson, two foundational players, with their lottery picks. In 2025, the team was able to trade their No. 2 pick in exchange for All-Star guard Kelsey Plum, the highest profile signing the Sparks have had in quite some time.

While the road has been bumpy, Hamby believes the ultimate reward will be that much more gratifying.

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“You have to break it down to build it back up. I think for me, I just like my optimism. My perspective for me is I’d rather have a slow burn than a quick fix, and then it just not be the same,” Hamby said during team exit interviews last week. “So when we were talking about long-term and wanting to build something for the years to come with the core we have and the young players going forward, I’m not happy that we’re not in the playoffs. But I’m very optimistic about where we were in the second half of the season. And we still can get so much better which is crazy.”

The 2025 season was the third consecutive year that Hamby has played every game. During her first two seasons with the Sparks, she appeared in all 40 games each year. This year, with the league upping the number of regular season games to 44, Hamby once again was available for duty each night for the Sparks.

She averaged a career-high 18.4 points, 7.9 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 1.6 steals with splits of 57.2 percent shooting from the field, 27.8 percent shooting from the three-point line and 62.7 percent shooting from the free-throw line. Her field goal percentage was also a career-high.

Moving forward, Hamby figures to be a key piece as the Sparks continue to try and regain their form as a perennial playoff contender.