Dearica Hamby is a professional basketball player from the United States, currently playing for the Los Angeles Sparks in the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA).
Dearica Marie Hamby was born on November 6, 1993, in Marietta, Georgia, USA. She attended high school at both Marietta and Norcross in Georgia, where she honed her basketball skills.
Dearica Hamby played collegiate basketball at Wake Forest University. In her senior year, she achieved an average of 20.3 points per game, the highest in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) for women, along with 10.7 rebounds, which ranked second in the conference.
During her junior year, she had one of the most remarkable single seasons in the history of the school. Over the course of 31 games, Dearica Hamby led the nation’s premier conference in both scoring (22.0 points) and rebounding (11.0 rebounds), making her the first player from the Demon Deacons to top the ACC in both categories in a single season. Dearica Hamby concluded her career as Wake Forest’s all-time leading scorer and rebounder, amassing 1,801 points and 1,021 rebounds.
In 2015, Dearica Hamby was selected sixth overall by the San Antonio Stars. In 2018, the franchise rebranded as the Las Vegas Aces.
In 2019, Dearica Hamby averaged 11 points, 7.6 rebounds, 1.9 assists, and 0.97 steals per game, tying the WNBA record for the most double-doubles by a reserve off the bench with five. Dearica Hamby was nearly unanimously voted WNBA Sixth Woman of the Year in 2019, receiving 41 out of 43 votes. On the same day she was honored with this award, during a second-round, single-elimination game in the 2019 WNBA Playoffs against the Chicago Sky, with only 6.5 seconds left and her team trailing 92–90, Dearica Hamby made what the WNBA website referred to as “the shot of the year.” She intercepted a pass from Courtney Vandersloot that was meant for Diamond DeShields, dribbled once past half court, and made the game-winning basket, clinching the victory for the Aces.
On June 29, 2022, Dearica Hamby signed a multi-year contract extension with the Aces, and she helped the team secure the 2022 WNBA Championship.
On January 21, 2023, Dearica Hamby was traded to the Los Angeles Sparks along with a first-round pick in the 2024 WNBA draft in exchange for the rights to Amanda Zahui B. and a second-round pick in the 2024 WNBA draft. On June 13, 2024, she signed a one-year contract extension with the Sparks.
On August 12, 2024, it was announced that Dearica Hamby would participate in the inaugural season of Unrivaled, a new women’s 3-on-3 basketball league established by Napheesa Collier and Breanna Stewart.
Dearica Hamby made her debut with USA Basketball at the national team training camp in 2022. She was a member of the women’s 2022 USA World Cup Qualifying Team. In December 2023, she participated in the 3×3 team for the first time, leading them to a gold medal victory at the AmeriCup. Dearica Hamby scored the decisive shot to secure the win. She was awarded the tournament MVP. Subsequently, she was selected as a replacement for the injured Cameron Brink on the United States 3×3 team for the Paris 2024 Olympics. Dearica Hamby and her teammates earned bronze medals.
Dearica Hamby career highlights
1x WNBA champion (2022)
1x Olympics bronze medalist (2024)
1x FIBA 3×3 AmeriCup champion (2020)
3x WNBA All-Star (2021, 2022, 2024)
1x Commissioner’s Cup champion (2022)
1x FIBA 3×3 AmeriCup MVP (2023)
More photos of Dearica Hamby
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