Ever since the Las Vegas Aces became a thing in the late 2010s after they relocated from San Antonio, the team and organization has established a reputation as one of the class franchises in the WNBA.
The team boasts, arguably, the premier Core Four in the entire WNBA with A’ja Wilson, Chelsea Gray, Kelsey Plum and Jackie Young. That Core Four has brought two championships to Las Vegas and has been at the forefront in establishing Las Vegas as a winning sports town. Sin City has become Win City in large part thanks to the Aces.
In addition, owner Mark Davis has invested significant dollars into the team – including that plush team headquarters and practice facility in Henderson that is seen as a blueprint for what other WNBA teams (current and future) ought to follow.
Dearica Hamby’s lawsuit against the organization and the WNBA display that while facilities are important, WNBA teams need to have their feet held to the fire for the overall player experience.
The details of the 18-page federal lawsuit that was filed in Nevada centers on one primary claim – Hamby was discriminated against by the Aces because of her pregnancy and an element of this was that 2023 trade to the Los Angeles Sparks where the Sparks sent Amanda Zahui B. plus a second-round 2024 draft pick to Nevada.
It was a trade that occurred a season after the Aces bested the Connecticut Sun in four games to win their first championship and potentially lay the groundwork for a Las Vegas dynasty.
Details of the suit includes that the Aces promised Hamby the organization would cover the private school costs for her daughter, Amaya, with a donation to her school. The pregnancy was not made public until the Aces’ 2022 victory parade in late September.
Also that the team provided no concrete date when the donation would be made and that Hamby had to vacate team-provided housing. Other details include Hamby allegedly informing Aces brass – including coach Becky Hammon and general manager Natalie Williams of the pregnancy in August but that the “notable changes” in how Hamby was treated by Aces staff occurred after she made the pregnancy public at the championship parade.
Page Seven of the suit mentions that Hammon said to Hamby that she did not take necessary precautions to prevent a pregnancy after Hamby said it was unplanned.
Other details of the suit allege that the organization retaliated against Hamby after making public her feelings about the trade by directing Aces personnel (including players) to cease communication with Hamby, attempting to obtain Hamby’s medical records (which would be a HIPAA violation), not inviting Hamby to the White House to commemorate the Aces 2022 championship and refusing to show Amaya on the video screen at Michelob Ultra Arena when the Aces played the Chicago Sky in the first round of last year’s playoffs.
If any of this is true and if Hamby takes this all the way and wins this suit against the Aces and WNBA, this will be a massive black eye for the league – and we should revisit the conversation about how franchises conduct their business.
While Hamby was indeed an integral part of that 2022 championship, Hamby was not Wilson, Gray, Plum or Young. It is not a secret in professional sports that the benefits given to a really good player will likely be different than those bestowed upon a superstar. Superstars are the ones who get the most credit for putting teams in the win column, sell jerseys and boost television ratings and ticket sales.
Of course, Hamby is a good enough player to be part of this year’s 3×3 team at the recently concluded Paris 2024 Olympics with Rhyne Howard, Cierra Burdick and Hailey Van Lith. That team won bronze in France. Hamby is an Olympian.
But notice that the conversation around WNBA circles has centered on the idea that the best franchises are the ones that invest big money into making the player experience as close to the NBA’s as possible.
Look at the New York Liberty. Look at the Minnesota Lynx. Look at the Seattle Storm. The Phoenix Mercury cut the ribbon tape on its new practice facility during All-Star weekend which is a mere stone’s throw from the Footprint Center. The Chicago Sky recently made an announcement during the first week of the Olympics its plans to build a practice facility on the South Side.
Also – look at the Lynx in terms of how Napheesa Collier had the full support of its organization when she missed almost all of the 2022 season because of her pregnancy. While Minnesota’s support of Collier should be commended, it must not be lost on anyone that Collier is the Lynx’s current franchise player.
Also – look at what Skylar Diggins-Smith alleged was going on with the Mercury when she was on her comeback trail to the league. Diggins-Smith is a franchise player on any team she plays on, yet she did not get that treatment, it appears, from the Mercury.
While it is great that we are seeing franchises like the Aces, Liberty, Lynx, Mercury and Storm lead the way in terms of investment in facilities, the treatment that Hamby supposedly encountered because of her being pregnant with her second child is not giving class franchise. Instead, it is more along the lines of franchises that have been criticized for underinvestment – such as the Sky and Sparks.
What sort of message does this send to anyone who may have the Aces on their free agent radar when that time comes. Does the conversation shift to the idea that they will enjoy a great player experience, but buyer beware if they reach that point in their lives where they are thinking about motherhood.
One would have thought that protection of player mothers would have been one of the top priorities for the WNBA when it was first established in the mid- and late-1990s. Instead, player protections for mothers did not become a thing until the current CBA which was ratified between league and players right before the onset of the pandemic.
And who was critical in pushing the conversation to this point? It was Diggins-Smith who mentioned that she played the entire 2018 season with the Dallas Wings while carrying a child.
That was another major point for many to criticize the inner workings of the Wings franchise. The Aces should not get a pass simply because they are two-time defending champions, have the best player in the world on its roster or because it has an owner willing to put big money into facilities.
Hammon in particular will look really bad if Hamby does indeed take things all the way. She was already assessed a two-game suspension and the Aces had to forfeit their first-round draft pick for next season’s draft. Hammon, herself, is also a mother.
A bit of conventional wisdom is centering on the idea that the WNBA and Aces could settle with Hamby so this does not become an even bigger public relations problem. This could particularly be the case with the W recently announcing a new media rights deal commencing in 2026. Hammon’s reputation being potentially sullied in this way is especially heartbreaking given how she is seen as a trailblazer in terms of women looking to break through into men’s coaching ranks.
Hamby will be 31 years of age this November. By the fact that she now has two children, Amaya and Legend, she clearly is already thinking about life after the W. But a franchise should not go to such drastic lengths to ostracize her solely because she decided to go through with a pregnancy that she herself says was unplanned.
Las Vegas deserves all the praise in the world for being a major element in getting the WNBA out of the days where owning a team was merely seen as a charity or tax write-off for a prospective owner. Anyone wishing to own a team now has to put big dollars into making the player experience indicative of a major sports league.
But a franchise should not dazzle fans and media with shiny objects like plush practice facilities only to come up short in other areas of the player experience. It is alleged we are seeing this with the Aces and possibly with the Mercury as well given how Diggins-Smith’s experience went south in Phoenix.
This is one of those moments where WNBA teams, the league as a whole and its commissioner Cathy Engelbert need to receive a bit of tough love. The W is in a boom period currently and this is an occasion where all need to look at themselves in the mirror and realize why that growth is happening.
It is happening because of the players – players like Hamby and Diggins-Smith who, for all we know, could be giving birth to the next generation of basketball greats.
