Documents from Dearica Hamby's lawsuit against the Aces make Becky Hammon look terrible

Dearica Hamby of the Los Angeles Sparks has sued the WNBA and her former team, the Las Vegas Aces. Hamby has claimed that the organization had "repeated acts of intimidation, discrimination and retaliation."

In September 2022, Hamby announced she was pregnant while she was part of the Aces organization. Then, her attorneys allege that she was forced to leave the housing provided by the team and that she faced bullying from head coach Becky Hammon, who would criticize her pregnancy and question her commitment to the team. Then, in January 2023, Hamby was traded.

However, Hamby also alleges that the WNBA failed to investigate the trade and its issues properly. According to ESPN, the league conducted an investigation involving interviews with 33 people and a review of numerous texts, emails, and documents before punishing Hamby in May 2023. Hammon only had a two-game suspension for violating league and team respect in the workplace policies. The Aces also got their 2025 first-round pick taken away.

"I don't recall my relationship with Hamby being anything but on the up-and-up, and I'm just—obviously along with the organization — disappointed with the findings," Hammon told reporters in May of 2023. "It's never [good] to have your name be associated with something like that, which is not who you are as a person. That's not how I operate. I did talk to my team; they were great. I have to say they've been very professional throughout this whole process."

On Tuesday, the Aces issued a statement saying that the organization still stands behind its statement on May 16, 2023, and continues to have no further comment at the time.

An attorney for Hamby told ESPN on Monday, "The EEOC issued the [right to sue] document at our client's request because we wanted to move forward with litigation. The EEOC did not make any finding regarding the facts; to permit a full-scale investigation might have entailed another year or two of delay."

The situation's timeline shows favor for Hamby. In mid-July, she found out she was pregnant and told Hammon and the Aces in early August. She said that the Aces were unhappy with her and that after that season, the use of team-provided housing was taken from her and her daughter's school tuition was not paid. Hammon also allegedly asked her if she planned the pregnancy and questioned her dedication to the team simply because she was pregnant.

Hamby was vocal about how the investigation was not involving players from the Aces at the time. And no players have spoken out on the lawsuit.

Overall, it's not a good look for Hammon or the Aces organization. No matter the evidence, being traded while pregnant is not the best move, even if it is all about business.

It ended up that being traded to the Sparks might have been the best thing to happen to Hamby. She gave birth to her son Legend in April 2023 and then played all 40 games last season with the Sparks. In her second season in LA, she has averaged 19.2 points and 10.0 rebounds per game. Hamby was a WNBA All-Star and a part of the United States 3x3 women's basketball team, which won bronze in the Paris Olympics. While she was a Sixth Woman of the Year in 2019 and 2020 with the Aces, she seems to look even more vital as a more prominent player for the Sparks.