WNBA forward Dearica Hamby filed a lawsuit in federal court on Monday against the league and her former team, the Las Vegas Aces, over allegations that her former employer had discriminated against her over Hamby’s pregnancy with her second child.
The 18-page filing claims “repeated acts of intimidation, discrimination and retaliation” toward Hamby, including being traded to the Los Angeles Sparks in January 2023.
Hamby, who plays for the Sparks and won bronze during the 2024 Tokoyo Olympics in women’s 3×3 basketball, reiterates a number of claims that she made in a discrimination complaint made to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) last year.
The federal lawsuit adds new light to the alleged discrimination she faced following the discovery of her pregnancy with her son Legacy after she signed a contract extension with the Aces in June 2022.
The suit alleges that the team wouldn’t pay private school tuition for her daughter that was agreed upon in the contract extension and that she was forced to leave team housing without being given a reason, despite an agreement that she would be allowed to utilize it.
“The WNBA is, at its core, a workplace, and federal laws have long shielded pregnant women from discrimination on the job,” Hamby’s attorneys Dana Sniegocki, Erin Norgaard, and Artur Davis said in a statement. “The world champion Aces exiled Dearica Hamby for becoming pregnant and the WNBA responded with a light tap on the wrist.
“Every potential mother in the league is now on notice that childbirth could change their career prospects overnight. That can’t be right in one of the most prosperous and dynamic women’s professional sports leagues in America.”
The lawsuit details the timeline, according to Hamby, of the events that led to the alleged discrimination, from the signing of her contract extension in May of 2022 to when she says she first found out she was pregnant “on or about July 18, 2022.”
Other details in the federal lawsuit included specific conversations Hamby says she had with Aces head coach Becky Hammon, who is alleged to have told the WNBA forward that “she was not taking proper precautions not to get pregnant” and later “questioned Hamby’s commitment and dedication to the team.”
During that same conversation, Hamby says that she asked Hammon twice, “You’re trading me because I’m pregnant?”
Hammon is alleged to have replied: “What do you want me to do?”
Hammon was found to have violated the WNBA’s respect in the workplace policies following a league investigation and was suspended without pay for two games in 2023, while the Aces had been stripped of their first-round pick in 2025 for impermissible benefits related to Hamby’s deal.
The lawsuit pushes back that despite the punishment the league “took no steps to correct or address a clear-cut violation.”
In a statement to Callie Lawson-Freeman of the Las Vegas Review-Journal the WNBA said they were “aware of today’s legal filing and are reviewing the complaint.”
Hamby was traded on Jan. 21, 2023, and shortly after it was announced she took to social media to express her distress over the situation, writing in part that she was “bullied, manipulated, and discriminated against.”
She filed a complaint with the EEOC in September 2023 and they gave her a “Notice of Right to Sue” in May.
