Los Angeles Sparks star Dearica Hamby is taking legal action against the WNBA and the franchise where she spent the majority of her professional basketball career.
Hamby, who was drafted in the first round by the then-San Antonio Stars, filed paperwork with the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada on Monday. The Stars moved to Las Vegas for the 2018 season and changed their name to the Aces.
The complaint alleges the three-time WNBA All-Star faced “repeated acts of intimidation, discrimination and retaliation” before and after her trade to the Sparks in 2023. Hamby was pregnant at the time.
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Dearica Hamby #5 of the Los Angeles Sparks prepares to shoot a free throw against the New York Liberty on June 20, 2024 in Brooklyn, New York. (Catalina Fragoso/NBAE via Getty Images)
The WNBA launched an investigation into Hamby's discrimination allegations in 2023.
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Aces coach Becky Hammon received a two-game suspension as a result of the investigation. The franchise also lost a first-round draft pick. But Hamby's attorneys argued that the league's response to the situation was inadequate.
Dearica Hamby #5 of the Los Angeles Sparks looks on during the Storm game at Climate Pledge Arena on June 11, 2024 in Seattle, Washington. (Steph Chambers/Getty Images)
“The WNBA is, at its core, a workplace, and federal laws have long protected pregnant women from workplace discrimination. The world champion Aces exiled Dearica Hamby for becoming pregnant and the WNBA responded with a gentle tap on the wrist,” Dana Sniegocki, Erin Norgaard and Artur Davis of HKM Employment Attorneys said in a statement.
Dearica Hamby (5) of the Las Vegas Aces dribbles up the court during a WNBA basketball game against the Phoenix Mercury on May 6, 2022, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Darryl Webb, File)
The lawyers added that Hamby's ordeal should put other potential mothers in the WNBA “on notice.”
“Every potential mother in the league knows that the birth of a child could change their career prospects overnight. That can't be true in one of the most prosperous and dynamic women's professional sports leagues in the United States.”
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Hamby is a two-time WNBA Sixth Woman of the Year and was a member of the Aces' 2022 WNBA championship team.
Fox News Digital reached out to the WNBA and the Aces but did not immediately receive a response to a request for comment.
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