WNBA forward Dearica Hamby filed a lawsuit in federal court on Monday against the league and her former team, the Las Vegas Aces, alleging that her former employer discriminated against her regarding her second pregnancy.
The 18-page lawsuit alleges “repeated acts of intimidation, discrimination and retaliation” against Hamby, including his trade to the Los Angeles Sparks in January 2023.
Hamby, who played for the Sparks and won a bronze medal in women’s 3×3 basketball at the 2024 Tokyo Olympics, repeated some of the allegations she made in a discrimination complaint filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) last year.
The federal lawsuit sheds new light on the discrimination she allegedly faced after signing a contract extension with the Aces in June 2022 and discovering she was pregnant with her son, Legacy.
The lawsuit claims the team did not pay his daughter’s private school tuition, as agreed in his contract extension, and that he was forced to leave team accommodations without being given reason, even though he was allowed to do so.
“The WNBA is essentially a workplace, and federal law has long protected pregnant women from workplace discrimination,” Hamby’s attorneys, Dana Sniegocki, Erin Norgard and Artur Davis, said in a statement. “A world champion basketball player banned Dearica Hamby because of her pregnancy, and the WNBA responded with a light punishment.”
“All future mothers in the league are informed that giving birth can change their career prospects overnight. That shouldn’t happen in one of the most thriving and vibrant women’s professional sports leagues in America.”
Hamby said the complaint details a timeline of the alleged discrimination, from when she signed her contract extension in May 2022 to “on or about July 18, 2022,” when she allegedly first learned she was pregnant.
Other details in the federal lawsuit include specific conversations Hamby had with Aces head coach Becky Hammon, who allegedly told the WNBA forward that she “did not take proper precautions to avoid getting pregnant” and then “questioned Hamby’s commitment and dedication to the team.”
During that same conversation, Hamby said she twice asked Hammon, “Are you going to trade me because I’m pregnant?”
Hamon reportedly responded: “What do you want me to do?”
Hammon was suspended without pay for two games in 2023 after a league investigation found she violated the WNBA’s respect in the workplace policy, while the Aces were stripped of their 2025 first-round draft pick for improper benefits related to Hamby’s contract.
Despite the punishment, the lawsuit counters, the league “took no steps to correct or address the apparent violations.”
In a statement Carrie Lawson Freeman of the Las Vegas Review-Journal The WNBA said it was “aware of the filing of today’s lawsuit and is currently reviewing the complaint.”
Hamby was traded on January 21, 2023, and shortly after the announcement She is on social media She expressed her anguish 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 was given a “Notice of Right to Sue” by the EEOC in May.
