“She Stayed Up Late Nights…”: Dearica Hamby Reveals Her Favorite Moment at the Olympics, but It’s Not Winning the Bronze Medal

For the 2015 6th overall draft pick, the Olympics was a dream. It remained until Cameron Brink suffered an ACL tear, leaving her out of the 3×3 Team USA’s roster for the 2024 Paris Olympics. The only solution in such a condition for the screening committee was Los Angeles Sparks’ forward, Dearica Hamby. And that’s how Hamby landed on Team USA. It seemed as if she was destined to be in Paris, especially to beam with pride. And it was not just the bronze medal that extracted this emotion from the basketball player.

Rather, it was her daughter Amaya who made the win even more exciting. As Team USA won, Hamby left the venue holding her daughter’s hand with a bronze around her neck. Sure enough, Amaya is extremely proud of her Olympic bronze medalist mom. The same goes for the Sparks standout. “The best part of my experience was people coming up to me and telling me how proud Amaya was,” she wrote on X.

For Amaya, 7, her mom is her queen, and she wants everyone to know who her mom is. Be it on the plane, at Disney, or even around the hotel, she told everyone that her mom is a legend playing at the Olympics for Team USA. “She stayed up late nights to make sure she fell asleep with me. She had the best time,” Hamby added.

Well, this is how Dearica Hamby has raised her kids. “Just trying to push and provide better than what I had growing up, a better education, a better life,” she told OCRegister.com. From gyms to arenas, Hamby’s kids are growing up seeing their mom on the world stage. And this year, it’s at its peak, at the Olympics.

That’s why her kids look extremely excited. However, the disappointment of not being able to retain a gold remains, especially how Hamby had the ball in the last few attempts.

Is Hamby a reason behind Team USA’s defeat against Spain?

This year in Paris, Team USA came in as defending champions. Last year, at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, the American roster returned with a shining gold medal around their necks. But this year, the gold medal turned into bronze. And Hamby deserves equal responsibility as her teammates.

In the second-to-last game Team USA played against Spain, they stood neck to neck. When the final sequence came, Howard drilled a jumper with 13 ticks remaining. But Spain immediately came up with an uncontested layup, making it 16-all. At this time, Hamby got hold of the ball but could not get her final shot attempt.

As it was not on time, Team USA headed into overtime at the Summer Games. And it was a win for Spain. The team closed with a layup, handing Team USA their first loss since August 1. Now, the Americans were out of the run for gold. But the hopes for bronze were still alive. What next?

Team USA made a comeback and handed Canada a 16-13 loss. Well, something’s better than nothing. Coming back to Hamby, she’s surely having a good time, especially enjoying her motherhood. What do you think about this adorable mother-daughter bond? Comment down below!

Stay tuned for more such updates and join us for the exciting pilot episode of the “Dual Threat Show” as our host BG12 sits down with NCAA Star Asia Avinger.