It’s not every day that a WNBA lawsuit feels like a high-stakes poker game in a Vegas casino, but Dearica Hamby’s ongoing legal battle against the Las Vegas Aces and the league itself is shaping up to be just that. The stakes? Allegations of pregnancy discrimination, retaliation, and enough legal maneuvering to make even the best card sharks sweat.
In the latest round, the Aces and WNBA have doubled down, filing motions to dismiss Hamby’s lawsuit faster than a dealer shuffles cards. Hamby, now with the Los Angeles Sparks, claims she was traded by the Aces in 2023 simply because she was pregnant. The Aces, of course, insist that the trade had nothing to do with her expanding family and everything to do with, well, anything else.
The Aces argue that Hamby’s grievances are a bad hand—unrelated to her employment terms. They brush off her complaints about California’s high state income tax (Nevada, conveniently, has none) and her loss of marketing opportunities as nothing more than bad luck. In legalese, they’re essentially saying, “Sorry, Dearica, taxes and endorsements? Not our problem.”
But Hamby isn’t folding just yet. She contends that being shipped off to the struggling Sparks—while the Aces basked in back-to-back WNBA championships—tarnished her ability to rake in lucrative name, image, and likeness (NIL) deals. Who wants to sponsor a player from a team that’s not even sniffing the playoffs? Hamby alleges the Aces’ trade decision was a retaliatory royal flush aimed squarely at her career.
And then there’s the WNBA, Hamby’s other target. The league, ever the cool customer, claims it doesn’t even belong at this poker table. The WNBA insists it’s not Hamby’s employer but more of a referee in the grand game of professional basketball. Sure, they have a collective bargaining agreement (CBA) that sets player salaries, drafts, and trade rules, but the league argues that’s not the same as running the show.
Hamby, however, sees the WNBA as more than a rule-enforcer. Drawing inspiration from a 2022 case where MLB was deemed a joint employer for minor league players, Hamby argues the WNBA holds significant sway over players’ careers. But the league counters by pointing to a Ninth Circuit decision about college athletes, saying their role is more like a chaperone at a high school dance—there to set the rules but not pick who dances with whom.
With both sides digging in, the legal battle is heading for a crucial early neutral evaluation in January. Picture a courtroom showdown with just a hint of Vegas flair, where a neutral evaluator might play mediator, therapist, or even referee, trying to nudge both sides toward a settlement before this turns into a legal marathon.
Whether Hamby’s claims hit the jackpot or go bust, one thing’s for sure: this case has all the drama of a playoff game in overtime. Stay tuned—because in this saga of contracts, claims, and contested trades, the final buzzer is far from sounding.
