Free Agency 2026

The following is a press release from the Los Angeles Sparks:

The Los Angeles Sparks have re-signed WNBA champion, three-time All-Star and two-time Sixth Woman of the Year Dearica Hamby. Per team policy, the terms of the agreement will not be released.

“Dearica has developed into one of the most efficient and impactful players in the league,” said Sparks General Manager Raegan Pebley. “She is a competitor who sets the tone for winning every night, and her leadership and consistency elevate everyone around her.”

Last season, Hamby scored a career-high 18.4 points per game and converted 57.2% from the field, also a career high and second in the league. The 6-foot-3 forward enjoyed a career season, setting a single-season Sparks record for field goals made and pacing the league in the category, with current teammate Nneka Ogwumike ranking second. In 2026, Hamby also ranked sixth in scoring average, seventh in steals per game and ninth in rebounds a contest. Finishing in the WNBA’s top 10 in per-game points, rebounds and steals and field-goal percentage, she became the seventh player in league history to accomplish the feat, joining a legendary group of Ogwumike, Napheesa Collier, Breanna Stewart, A’ja Wilson, Yolanda Griffith and Sheryl Swoopes. The 6-for-3 forward played in all 44 Sparks contests and finished fourth in the league in minutes.

Hamby is one of five WNBA players ever to amass career numbers of at least 4,000 points, 2,300 rebounds and 380 steals while shooting 49.0% or better from the floor. The others to collect these statistics are Ogwumike, Sylvia Fowles, Candice Dupree and Yolanda Griffith. All-time, the 11-year veteran ranks 23th in defensive rebounds, 25th in total boards and 27th in double-doubles.

Hamby set the Sparks’ single-season offensive rebounding record in 2025 after notching the marks for single-season defensive rebounding and total rebounds a season earlier. In just three seasons with the franchise (124 games), the power forward already ranks Top 10 in several categories: seventh in defensive, offensive and total rebounds, eighth in free throws made, ninth in steals and 10th in points and field goals made. Hamby also ranks second all-time among Sparks in field-goal percentage and effective field-goal percentage, third in true shooting percentage, fourth in Player Efficiency Rating and fifth in offensive rating.

In 2024, the Georgia native finished Top 20 in field-goal percentage and per-game points, assists, rebounds and steals, becoming the 11th player ever to do it. Of the eight retired players in this group, six are or will soon be members of the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, including Sparks legend Candace Parker, whose induction was announced April 4. The only other active players to accomplish the feat are future Hall of Famers Collier and Alyssa Thomas. Also, in 2024, Hamby became the third Spark and first since Nneka Ogwumike to win the Kim Perrot Sportsmanship Award.

Drafted by San Antonio sixth overall in 2015, Hamby spent her first eight WNBA seasons as a member of the organization now known as the Las Vegas Aces. As an Ace, she became a key reserve, claiming back-to-back Sixth Woman of the Year honors before returning to the starting lineup and earning All-Star nods in the two seasons that followed. Hamby started 32 of 34 regular-season games for Las Vegas’ 2022 championship-winning squad. Months later in January 2023, Hamby was traded to the Sparks, where she has elevated her game, averaging 15.0 points, 7.7 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 1.4 steals while shooting 51.9% overall.

Hamby, who was inducted into the Wake Forest Sports Hall of Fame in March 2026, remains the program’s all-time leader in points, rebounds, defensive rebounds, Win Shares and Player Efficiency Rating. Later in the month, the athletic forward helped Team USA to a 5-0 record at the FIBA World Cup Qualifiers, shooting 68.2% from the field and averaging 5.2 rebounds in just 17.1 minutes per contest. Of the 50 players competing in Puerto Rico, Hamby finished fifth in efficiency per game, behind only Tournament MVP Caitlin Clark among Team USA players.