The Sparks sent forward Amanda Zahui B. and a 2024 second-round pick to the defending champion Aces.
Hamby, the sixth player of the year in 2019 and 2020 before growing into an All-Star in 2021 and 2022, has spent her entire eight-year WNBA career with the Aces franchise, including getting drafted by the team when it was in San Antonio. She signed a two-year contract extension before last season. Starting 32 of 34 regular-season games last year, Hamby averaged 9.3 points per game, her fewest since 2018, and 7.1 rebounds. A knee injury limited her to 8.7 minutes in six postseason appearances as the Aces defeated the Connecticut Sun in the WNBA Finals.
At the Aces’ championship parade, Hamby announced she was expecting her second child. Hamby, whose 5-year-old daughter Amaya was a staple on the Aces’ social media accounts as she followed her mother through the season, said during an interview with Khristina Williams of Girls Talk Sports last year the baby was due in March and she intends to return to the court this season.
The Sparks tip off the 2023 season on May 19 against the Phoenix Mercury at Crypto.com Arena.
Zahui B. missed last year’s WNBA season because the Sparks put her on the suspended list. Then-general manager Derek Fisher cited visa issues and overseas duty that would have kept Zahui B. out of the country for the first third of the season for suspending Zahui B.’s contract. Fisher had also just signed forward Liz Cambage as a free agent. Cambage quit the team in July, one month after Fisher was fired.
In 2021, Zahui B. averaged a career-high 9.2 points for the Sparks with 5.1 rebounds. She has continued playing overseas in Turkey.