Aces coach Becky Hammon denies bullying player over pregnancy

Las Vegas coach Becky Hammon denied Wednesday that former Aces player Dearica Hamby was bullied on her team for being pregnant, saying any ill feelings between the two came from Hamby being traded.

Hammon, one of the league's marquee figures, said at a news conference she did nothing to warrant discipline from the WNBA, which suspended her for two games without pay Tuesday after a monthslong investigation into Hamby's allegations.

"I'll take my little lump on the chin and keep it moving," Hammon said. "We're bigger than this. It's just not who the Aces are. It's not who I am. And so, yeah, everybody's disappointed in the situation, but at the end of the day, we know who we are and so we go to sleep every night in that truth."

Hammon said she once asked Hamby about her pregnancy, but didn't get into the specifics of what she said.

Hammon, who in her first season last year led the Aces to the WNBA championship, spent eight seasons as an assistant coach for the San Antonio Spurs and is considered one of the rising stars in the basketball coaching world.

She has been linked to the vacant Toronto Raptors job, but said on Wednesday that she is not "far along in the process with any team"

"If it happens, it happens. If somebody wants me, you can come tell me. You know where to find me," Hammon said. "But my energies and focus are in the Las Vegas Aces 100 per cent."

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The WNBA also rescinded the Aces' first-round pick in the 2025 draft on Tuesday for a different issue — a violation of league rules regarding impermissible player benefits involving Hamby, who was traded to the Los Angeles Sparks on Jan. 21.

The trade allowed the Aces to clear up salary-cap space to sign former