A few minutes into Wednesday afternoon's matinee, Dearica Hamby spotted up on the wing, caught a pass from Lexie Brown and drained a 3-pointer. The shot wasn't just the Los Angeles Sparks' first basket of the game, but the first make from downtown of the season for Hamby, who is settling into life with her new team and working her way back from the birth of her second child in March.
It was perhaps fitting, then, that with her new son Legend along for the road trip, Hamby delivered her best game of the season on "Kids Day" in Dallas. With thousands of screaming children in attendance, Hamby poured in a season-high 23 points on 10-of-15 from the field and added eight rebounds, two assists and two steals in the Sparks' 79-61 win over the Wings.
This was actually the first 20-point game for Hamby in over a year -- her last one came on June 11, 2022 -- and statistically one of the best outings of her career. She had recorded at least 20 points and five rebounds on 65 percent shooting or better on just five previous occasions.
"These are the kind of shots I've been taking all season and they went in the basket today," Hamby said. "Another good game for my confidence"
Head coach Curt Miller was a bit more enthusiastic: "Dearica had her best game in a Sparks uniform and just was huge for us with our attacking." Miller's latter point was perhaps the most encouraging aspect of Hamby's performance.
Whether it was in transition...
... or in the halfcourt...
she was moving well, getting into the paint and finishing at the basket. Coming into this game, Hamby was shooting 37.2 percent in the paint; against the Wings she went 9-of-13. All told, Wednesday's outing continued a positive trend for Hamby, who is starting to find a rhythm. After a slow start to the season, she's averaging 16 points, 8.3 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 2.3 steals, while shooting 50 percent from the field over the last three games.
Considering what Hamby went through this winter, it's little surprise the former two-time Sixth Player of the Year needed some time to get back to her usual self on the court. While pregnant, she was traded from the Las Vegas Aces to the Sparks in a stunning move, one that was precipitated by misconduct from her former club.
In an emotional Instagram post, Hamby accused the Aces of "traumatizing" her and said she was "met with coldness, disrespect, and disregard from members of management." After a league investigation, Aces head coach Becky Hammon was suspended two games for "Respect in the Workplace" violations.
And even now, after Hamby worked incredibly hard to be back on the floor for the Sparks' season opener, she is still juggling the dual roles of a new mother and professional basketball player. That includes bringing Legend on longer road trips so she doesn't mess up her nursing schedule, but not being able to sleep in the same room as him -- her mom is on this trip to assist -- so that she gets her proper rest between games.
It's a challenging process, but one Hamby, who has experience with it from the birth of her daughter, Amaya, in 2017, is confident she can handle.
"This is all I really know," Hamby said. "Maybe in hindsight when I'll look back after I'm done playing I'll be like 'that was exhausting what you were doing,' but it's the only way I know."
