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Las Vegas Aces’ star forward A’ja Wilson won this year’s WNBA Most Valuable Player award, per an announcement on Sunday. The honor cements Wilson as the first player in league history to claim four MVPs.
Read more: Sparks’ Rickea Jackson Talks Mindset Playing Through Injury, Calls Out Opponents
However, despite Wilson’s dominant win, a pair of Los Angeles Sparks stars still received votes on the 2025 award ballot.
Both Dearica Hamby and Rickea Jackson secured one vote each, respectively, per the voting results.
Sparks’ first-year HC Lynne Roberts after LA’s elimination from playoff contention:
“It’s disappointing but I certainly don’t feel like it’s a failure … I’m proud of [this team].”
LA’s 21-22 record in 2025 is 13 wins better than its 8-32 finish in 2024.https://t.co/eq9bARNku4
— Ben Geffner (@BenGeffner) September 10, 2025
Jackson, in her second season in the WNBA, sported career-high averages in points (14.7), assists (1.7), minutes (30.9) and games started (37).
Despite missing time due to injury, L.A.’s 2024 first-round draft choice impressed throughout this summer’s campaign — and served as a cornerstone in the purple and gold’s frontcourt, nearly cementing a Sparks playoff berth just weeks prior.
Furthermore, Hamby, in her third season in L.A., averaged a career-high 18.4 points in 2025, along with over seven rebounds, three assists and one steal per contest.
The Sparks’ veteran forward delivered a statement following L.A.’s season-ending loss to the Las Vegas Aces in mid-September.
“I came here two years ago, and that was the plan, a longterm build. … I think we took steps in the right direction,” Hamby said postgame. “We were two games away, but I can count on two hands games that we kinda gave up. Still positive, though, and good momentum for the future.”
Despite missing the WNBA playoffs, Dearica Hamby scored 25 points in the Sparks’ win tonight — 16 of which came in the fourth quarter.
Impactful growth for Hamby in Year 3 with L.A. She set career-highs in PPG, BPG and games played/started (42) in 2025.https://t.co/eq9bARNku4 https://t.co/jsSsdr9bM5
— Ben Geffner (@BenGeffner) September 10, 2025
Hamby played and started in all 44 games in 2025. She hasn’t missed a game since being traded to the Sparks in January of 2023, per Justin Russo on X.
Read more: Former Sparks Guard Signed By Fever Amid Caitlin Clark’s Absence
“I just shared this with the team … There’s times when you plant and there’s times when you harvest — and for sure, planting has occurred. And even I think there was sprouting that occurred with this group,” Sparks’ general manager Raegan Pebley added. “It’s really easy to get caught up in a win-loss, or playoffs or not playoffs, and decide that success is binary.
“That’s not the case … There’s so much success and growth, and many, many things to be proud of that’s happened this season,” L.A.’s GM said.
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