Becky Hammon's mishandling of the Dearica Hamby allegations might be the end of her time in Las Vegas

This is For The Win’s daily newsletter, The Morning Win. Did a friend recommend or forward this to you? If so, subscribe here. Have feedback? Leave your questions, comments and concerns through this brief reader survey! Now, here’s Mike Sykes.

Good morning, Winners! Welcome back to the Morning Win. Thanks so much for rocking with us today. We appreciate you. I hope you had a fantastic weekend.

Becky Hammon certainly didn’t. I’m not telling you that so you can feel sorry for her — she brought this on herself.

Let’s start with the news, though.

Hammon took a portion of her post-game press conference on Sunday to tell anyone who would listen that she did no harm to current Sparks All-Star Dearica Hamby when she was a member of the Aces.

Hamby filed a lawsuit last week against the Las Vegas Aces and the WNBA, alleging that because she was pregnant after signing her contract extension in 2022, she faced “repeated acts of intimidation, discrimination, and retaliation from the Aces” before the team shipped her to Los Angeles. The details are brutal. Hamby alleges that after Hammon and the Aces found out she was pregnant in July 2022, they reneged on certain agreements in the deal.

More crucially, Hamby also claims to have been bullied by Hammon.

Hamby detailed Hammon’s questions about her dedication to the team during her pregnancy. Hamby said Hammon told her that she “didn’t hold up her end of the bargain” by getting pregnant and that, by signing the extension, Hamby implicitly agreed not to.

It’s jaw-dropping stuff that, if true, would be more than reasonable enough to result in Hammon’s firing. But, according to Becky, none of this ever happened.

“I’ve been in either the WNBA or the NBA for 25 years now; I’ve never had an HR complaint—never, not once. I still didn’t actually ‘cause Dearica didn’t file any. She didn’t file with the players' union.She didn’t file with the WNBA. Those are the facts.” Becky Hammon on lawsuit pic.twitter.com/C0K1cLkpVw

— Khristina Williams (@Khristina) August 19, 2024

“Here’s some facts,” Hammon told reporters. “I’ve been in either the WNBA or the NBA for now 25 years. I’ve never had an HR complaint. Never, not once. I still didn’t, actually, because Dearica didn’t file any. She didn’t file with the players’ union, she didn’t file with the WNBA. Those are facts.”

You want to talk about facts? Let’s talk about facts.

Hammon claims the bullying “didn’t happen,” yet, somehow, after a months-long investigation spearheaded by the WNBA itself, the league found enough wrongdoing by Hammon to suspend her for two games last season. That’s a fact. Hammon can’t tell us that she didn’t do anything wrong here when we know that to be true.

It’s not unreasonable to believe that it’s true, either. The WNBA has been shaky in the past when handling player pregnancies. All we have to do is look back on how the Mercury treated Skylar Diggins-Smith during her pregnancy last season. It sounds pretty similar.

That might surprise you, but it shouldn’t. The WNBA might be a highly visible league, but we’re still dealing with simple workplace dynamics here.

On one end, you’ve got a coach in Hammon who makes $1 million per year and led her team to a championship (with Hamby included!) in her first season as a head coach. On the other, you’ve got a player who doesn’t even make a quarter of what her coach makes and wasn’t the best talent on the roster.

Given those facts — since, again, Becky says we’re talking about facts — whose side do you think the Aces chose? Whose side do you think the WNBA chose? It’s easy math.

You can’t help but feel like Hammon just put her foot in her mouth. What she’s telling saying is so easy to pick apart.

At best, what she’s doing here is downright irresponsible. There’s a reason folks don’t talk about pending litigation. What she says here will be used in court, and when the parties go into discovery, I’d bet this moment will somehow look worse than it does today. It might even lead to the end of her tenure in Vegas.

At worst, this is sinister and downright ghoulish. Hammon is gaslighting Dearica by telling her that what she had to endure was somehow “over the top care” from her former head coach.

And that, folks, is precisely what workplace bullying looks like. We’ll see how this plays out in court.

Bo Nix … Is that you?

If you asked people who they thought was the best bet out there to win Offensive Rookie of the Year in the NFL this season, you’d probably hear a lot of Caleb Williams. Maybe Jayden Daniels or Drake Maye. Maybe even Rome Odunze or Marvin Harrison Jr.

You probably wouldn’t hear much about Bo Nix, but the guy has looked solid so far in a couple of preseason games for Sean Payton and the Broncos.

Prince Grimes says Nix is the hottest bet for OROY today. He makes some sense of it here:

“To start, the Denver Broncos rookie almost certainly locked up the team’s starting job with his preseason play, which already gives him an edge over at least two and maybe three of his classmates who won’t see the field. J.J. McCarthy was ruled out for the season after knee surgery. Michael Penix Jr. (+6600) is stuck behind Kirk Cousins for the foreseeable future. And Drake Maye (+3500) is backing up Jacoby Brissett for the time being.

That leaves Caleb Williams (+140) and Jayden Daniels (+500) as the most immediate competition at QB, and both have much shorter odds than Nix at +1200.”

This is impressive stuff from Bo Nix — especially considering how little time he’s had in Denver. That starting spot is up for grabs and he seems to want it.

Am I impressed because my expectations were at 0? Maybe. But who cares! I’m still impressed, nonetheless.

Do the Soto Shuffle

It’s hard not to get excited when you see Juan Soto come up to bat. Not only do you know there’s a solid chance you’re about to see something special, but you also know the Soto Shuffle is coming.

I get just as excited as these kids do every time I see it.

The kids were so excited for the Soto shuffle pic.twitter.com/nRXhOftb3M

— Talkin' Yanks (@TalkinYanks) August 19, 2024

I hate that he’s doing this for the Yankees these days, but this still gets me just as hype as ever.

Soto Shuffle, forever.

READ MORE: These little leaguers imitating the Soto Shuffle is everything

Quick hits: Your first fantasy football pick … It’ll be OK, Vikings fans … and more

— Here’s Charles Curtis with more on who you should use your first pick on in fantasy football this year.

— The Vikings will have a rough season, but Christian D’Andrea has more on why that’s OK.

— This technical on Caitlin Clark was so silly. Here’s Robert Zeglinski with more.

— Lamar Jackson is somehow a sleeper to win MVP again. Here’s Prince Grimes with more.

— Christie Sides and Noelle Quinn getting into it was not on my bingo card. Here’s Meg Hall with more.

— Tyreek Hill doesn’t really want to race Noah Lyles. Let’s be serious.

Thanks for reading, gang. Appreciate you. Let’s do this again tomorrow. Talk soon. Peace.

-Sykes