What began as a run of the mill offseason trade, has since degraded into an ugly divorce with the WNBA’s players association calling for an investigation into the matter.
Earlier this week, the Las Vegas Aces traded Dearica Hamby and their 2024 1st round pick to the Los Angeles Sparks in exchange for the rights to Amanda Zahui B. and a 2024 second round draft pick.
While the trade initially raised some eyebrows due to Hamby’s role in the team’s 2022 WNBA title, most chalked it up to a bigger play to come once free agency opened. However in the hours after the trade was initially announced, Hamby took to social media to air her frustrations and levy some serious allegations against her former club.
“Being traded is part of the business,” Hamby said in a statement posted to Instagram. “Being lied to, bullied, manipulated, and discriminated against is not.”
Hamby continued saying “I have had my character and work ethic attacked. I was promised things to entice me to sign my contract extension that were not followed through on. 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. I was told that ‘I didn’t hold up my end of the bargain’ (because ‘no one expected me to get pregnant in the next two years’).
“Did the team expect me to promise not to get pregnant in exchange for the contract extension? I was asked if I planned my pregnancy. When I responded, ‘no,’ I was then told that I ‘was not taking precautions to not get pregnant.’ I was being traded because ‘I wouldn’t be ready and we need bodies.'”
Hamby signed a two year contract extension with the Aces in June, and revealed her pregnancy at the team’s championship parade in September. A two time WNBA Sixth Woman of the Year award winner, the 29 year old has averaged 9.2pts/1.4ast/5.6reb per game over the course of her 8 year professional career.
While the Aces have yet to issue a public statement on the matter, the WNBA’s players association was quick to raise red flags regarding the allegations. In a recently released statement, the WNBPA remarked “A member of our Union has raised serious concerns regarding the conduct of members of Las Vegas Aces’ management. We will review this matter and we will seek a comprehensive investigation to ensure that her rights under the collectively bargained provisions of the 2020 CBA, as well as her rights and protections under state and federal law, have not been violated.”
As part of the league’s new collective bargaining agreement enacted in 2020, players will receive their full salary while on maternity leave as well as a child care stipend. From a team perspective, the new CBA allows teams to sign a replacement player in the event one of their rostered players takes maternity leave in order to fit under the salary cap.
The former Wake Forest standout is married to former Pitt basketball player Alonzo Nelson-Ododa who most recently played for FOG Naestved in Denmark. The couple have a daughter, Amaya, whom they welcomed into the world in 2017.
-Kyle Skinner
Twitter: @JKyleSkinner
Photo: Lorie Shaull. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.