The following is a press release from the Los Angeles Sparks:<\/p>\n
The Los Angeles Sparks\u00a0have\u00a0re-signed WNBA champion, three-time All-Star and two-time Sixth Woman of the Year\u00a0Dearica Hamby. Per team policy, the terms of the agreement will\u00a0not\u00a0be\u00a0released.<\/p>\n
\u201cDearica has developed into one of the most efficient and impactful players in the league,\u201d said Sparks General Manager Raegan Pebley. \u201cShe is a competitor who sets the tone for winning every night, and her leadership and consistency elevate everyone around her.\u201d<\/p>\n
Last season, Hamby scored a career-high\u00a018.4 points per game and converted 57.2% from the field, also a career high\u00a0and second in the league.\u00a0The 6-foot-3 forward enjoyed a career season,\u00a0setting\u00a0a single-season Sparks record for field goals made and pacing\u00a0the league in\u00a0the category,\u00a0with\u00a0current teammate Nneka Ogwumike\u00a0ranking\u00a0second.\u00a0In 2026,\u00a0Hamby\u00a0also ranked\u00a0sixth\u00a0in scoring average, seventh\u00a0in steals per game\u00a0and ninth in\u00a0rebounds a contest.\u00a0Finishing in the WNBA\u2019s top 10 in per-game points, rebounds and steals and field-goal percentage, she became the seventh player in league history to\u00a0accomplish\u00a0the feat, joining a legendary group of Ogwumike, Napheesa Collier, Breanna Stewart,\u00a0A\u2019ja Wilson, Yolanda\u00a0Griffith\u00a0and Sheryl Swoopes.\u00a0The 6-for-3 forward played in all 44 Sparks contests and finished fourth in the league in minutes.<\/p>\n
Hamby is one of five WNBA players ever to amass career numbers of at least 4,000 points, 2,300 rebounds and 380 steals while shooting 49.0% or better from the floor.\u00a0The others to collect these statistics are Ogwumike, Sylvia Fowles, Candice\u00a0Dupree\u00a0and Yolanda Griffith.\u00a0All-time, the 11-year veteran ranks\u00a023th\u00a0in defensive rebounds, 25th in total boards and 27th in double-doubles.<\/p>\n
Hamby set the Sparks\u2019 single-season offensive rebounding record in 2025\u00a0after notching the\u00a0marks for\u00a0single-season defensive rebounding\u00a0and total rebounds\u00a0a season earlier. In\u00a0just three seasons with the franchise (124 games), the power forward already ranks Top 10 in several categories:\u00a0seventh in defensive,\u00a0offensive\u00a0and total rebounds,\u00a0eighth in\u00a0free throws made,\u00a0ninth in steals and\u00a010th in points and\u00a0field goals\u00a0made.\u00a0Hamby also ranks second all-time among Sparks in field-goal percentage and effective field-goal percentage, third\u00a0in true shooting percentage, fourth in Player Efficiency Rating\u00a0and fifth in offensive rating.<\/p>\n
In 2024,\u00a0the Georgia native finished Top 20 in field-goal percentage and per-game points, assists,\u00a0rebounds\u00a0and steals, becoming the 11th player ever to do it.\u00a0Of the eight retired players in this group, six are or will soon be members of the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, including Sparks legend Candace Parker, whose induction was announced April 4.\u00a0The only other active players to\u00a0accomplish\u00a0the feat are future Hall of Famers Collier and Alyssa Thomas.\u00a0Also, in 2024, Hamby became the third Spark and first since Nneka Ogwumike to win the Kim Perrot Sportsmanship Award.<\/p>\n
Drafted by San Antonio sixth overall in 2015, Hamby spent her first eight WNBA seasons as a member of the organization now known as the Las Vegas Aces. As an Ace,\u00a0she became a key reserve, claiming back-to-back Sixth Woman of the Year honors\u00a0before returning to the starting lineup and earning All-Star nods in the two seasons that followed.\u00a0Hamby\u00a0started 32 of 34 regular-season games\u00a0for\u00a0Las Vegas\u2019 2022 championship-winning squad.\u00a0Months later in January 2023, Hamby was traded to the Sparks, where she has\u00a0elevated her game,\u00a0averaging 15.0 points, 7.7 rebounds, 2.9 assists and\u00a01.4 steals while shooting 51.9% overall.<\/p>\n
Hamby, who was inducted into the Wake Forest Sports Hall of Fame in March 2026,\u00a0remains\u00a0the program\u2019s all-time leader in points, rebounds, defensive rebounds,\u00a0Win\u00a0Shares\u00a0and\u00a0Player\u00a0Efficiency\u00a0Rating.\u00a0Later in the month, the athletic forward\u00a0helped Team USA to a 5-0 record at the FIBA World Cup Qualifiers, shooting\u00a068.2% from the field and averaging\u00a05.2 rebounds\u00a0in just 17.1 minutes per contest.\u00a0Of the 50 players\u00a0competing in Puerto Rico, Hamby finished fifth in efficiency per game, behind only Tournament MVP Caitlin Clark among Team USA players.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The following is a press release from the Los Angeles Sparks: The Los Angeles Sparks\u00a0have\u00a0re-signed WNBA champion, three-time…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":600125,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[629],"tags":[49,48,82,630],"class_list":{"0":"post-600124","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wnba","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-wnba"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/600124","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=600124"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/600124\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/600125"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=600124"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=600124"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=600124"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}