Las Vegas Aces coach Becky Hammon strongly defended herself and the organization Wednesday after the WNBA announced she had been suspended two games without pay and the franchise’s 2025 first-round pick over the treatment of forward Dearika Hamby.
Hamby had alleged that she was traded in January to the Los Angeles Sparks because she was pregnant and that the Aces acted unethically toward her. Hammon countered that the deal was a “business decision” based on Asata’s needs.
The penalties announced Tuesday followed an investigation by the WNBA.
“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 by the findings,” Hammon said in a video call that was scheduled before the penalties were announced. “It never is [good] to have your name associated with something like that that is not who you are as a person. I don’t act like that. I spoke to my team; they were great. I have to say they were very professional throughout this whole process.”
Hammon said that to her knowledge, no Aces players from last season have been interviewed by the league. The WNBA said in a statement that “the investigation included interviews with 33 people and a review of numerous texts, emails and other documents.”
The WNBA told ESPN that investigators — two former prosecutors, one from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York and one from the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office — interviewed anyone they thought would have relevant information, including people offered by the Women’s National Basketball Association. The league said the aces were given the opportunity to provide the names of individuals to be interviewed, but failed to do so.
“There’s never been a bad message between me and Dearika Hamby or an email,” Hammon said. “First of all, I don’t email my players. I speak directly to them. But we do exchange text messages and anything less than what I can tell you is categorically false and not true by anyone in this organization.”
Hammon pointed out the possibility of creating a fake text chain. Asked if she thought Hamby did that, Hammon said, “I’m saying I don’t believe anyone in our organization sent Dearika Hamby nasty messages. I think this is completely made up by someone on the outside who doesn’t know what the hell is going on.”
The Aces released a statement Tuesday supporting Hammon and saying they were “deeply disappointed” in the outcome of the WNBA’s investigation.
Hamby had been with the Aces organization since 2015 when the franchise was still in San Antonio as the Stars. She agreed to a two-year contract extension in June. Hamby was then delayed by injury during the playoffs as Las Vegas won its first WNBA title.
During the Aces’ championship parade, Hamby announced she was expecting her second child and plans to play in 2023. In January, after being traded to Sparks, she said she was told she “wasn’t taking my training seriously.” and that Aces Staff told her that “[didn’t] I see that” she’ll be ready to come back. She called the situation an attack on her “character and work ethic.”
Hamby, speaking with the media in Los Angeles on Tuesday, said she is ready to play this season for the Sparks.
The WNBA said it was punishing Hammon and the Aces for “violating the league’s and team’s workplace respect rules.”
“I’ve treated Dearika with care since the first day she told me [about the pregnancy]and she knows that,” Hammon said. “Once I got the phone call that the decision had been made to move her, that’s when it all fell apart.”
Asked what the league told her about what she felt she did wrong, Hammon said, “I was asking about her pregnancy in a private conversation I had with Dearika. That’s what they said.’
A league spokesperson told ESPN that Hammon’s offense involved “inappropriate questions that Becky asked Dearica about her pregnancy. We do not think it would be appropriate to comment further than that.”
Hammon said the Aces traded Hamby because they wanted to add other players and needed to create salary cap space. After the trade, the Aces brought in a pair of two-time WNBA champions in Candace Parker and Alysha Clark. They also added Kayla George, a center from Australia who last played in the WNBA in 2018 but has been very successful in her home league, the WNBL, winning four titles.
“[Hamby’s pregnancy] it wasn’t an issue and it was never the reason we made the decision,” Hammon said. “We made the decision to move Hamby because we could get three bodies in her one contract and we wanted to hire three more people. I think it’s very obvious [with] who we signed why we made this move.
“In business, it came down to math. That was all. Nothing personal. I had a great relationship with Hamby the whole time. That’s why she probably felt that way. You know, it feels like betrayal. I said it’s a crappy part of my job, but someone has to be the bearer of bad news.”
Hammon said Wednesday that current Aces players — including 2022 starters Ajah Wilson, Kelsey Plum, Jackie Young and Chelsea Gray — told her the WNBA has not spoken to them about the investigation. She said she believes the league spoke with former Aces center Liz Cambage, who played for Las Vegas in 2019 and 2021, before Hammon took over as coach.
However, the WNBA told ESPN on Wednesday that Cambage was not interviewed as part of the investigation.
Hammon said he understands that Hamby is upset and feels bad about it, but that the allegations against her and the Aces are not true.
“Whatever Dearica felt was painful … I’m not invalidating her feelings,” Hammon said. “I’m sorry they were hurt. My job is to have difficult conversations. My job is to make Aces better every year. And sometimes it’s a difficult process. That decision had everything to do with freeing up money to sign free agents. That was it… This trade had to happen in order for the Las Vegas Aces to improve.
“As much as I could sit there and say, ‘This is not how I thought the conversation would go,’ she took it the other way.” And that makes me feel bad. Because I’m not that person. Causing pain or stress to someone… it’s just not in me. It’s not my heart.”