By Earl Heath | Contributing Sports Writer
Lisa Leslie has been leading the way for women in basketball for decades.
The first woman to dunk in a WNBA game, the first WNBA player to sign with a modeling agency and one of the most accomplished players in league history, Leslie has now become the first Los Angeles Sparks player to be immortalized with a bronze statue outside Crypto.com Arena.
The 11-foot statue, which sits atop a 4½-foot base, was unveiled during a ceremony celebrating Leslie’s remarkable career and lasting impact on women’s basketball.
Leslie became the 16th person honored with a statue in what has become known as Star Plaza. The ceremony featured several basketball legends, including her former USC coach Marianne Stanley, Lakers greats Magic Johnson, Byron Scott, James Worthy and Michael Cooper, as well as former Sparks teammate and fellow Hall of Famer Candace Parker.
‘The First Lady’
The statue, titled “The First Lady,” captures Leslie performing her iconic dunk. It is the first statue honoring a Sparks player in Star Plaza and the second honoring a woman. The first was Gigi Bryant, who died alongside her father, Kobe Bryant, in a 2020 helicopter crash.
When Leslie first saw the statue, she had a lighthearted reaction.
“First of all, she’s cute,” Leslie said. “I was so worried. I did not want to look like a linebacker up here. But she’s cute.”
Leslie said she wanted the statue to represent both her competitiveness and her femininity.
“I wanted to make sure that this statue was a perfect blend of fearlessness and the competitor that I was and I am and I’ll always be,” she said. “But also … I wore my ribbons, I had my nails polished, which y’all can’t see, but the girl got her polish on because I never wanted the boys or the men to think that I was a boy.”
Leslie said she wanted young girls watching her career to see themselves reflected in her.
“I wanted to play hard like them, but I wanted them to know that I respected myself and that I was a lady,” she said. “And I wanted for little girls to see my ribbons when I played because I wanted them to be able to see themselves in me.”
A Legacy Across Los Angeles
Standing near the statue, Leslie reflected on its location and the people who helped shape her life.
“I’m right across from Kobe. I’m right by Magic. The people who have just poured into my life,” she said. “To be cemented here in Hollywood, but it’s also a lasting legacy that my ancestors would be proud of.”
Leslie grew up in nearby Compton as the child of a single mother and went on to star at Morningside High School in Inglewood.
Her influence extended beyond the basketball court. After winning a championship, she negotiated her own contract with Nike, becoming an early example of the crossover appeal women athletes could have. In 1996, she signed with Wilhelmina Models before the Olympic Games in Atlanta.
In 1997, Leslie joined the Sparks for the franchise’s inaugural season.
Over her 12-year WNBA career, Leslie was a three-time league MVP and led the Sparks to championships in 2001 and 2002. She was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 2015.
A Competitor Who Helped Others
Michael Cooper, who coached Leslie with the Sparks, recalled first meeting her in 1994 while conducting a basketball camp in Pasadena.
“I knew she was going to be great because she challenged me to a slam dunk contest at my own camp,” Cooper said. “So she went up, made her first dunk, crowd went crazy and I lost.”
Magic Johnson also remembered Leslie competing against men during pickup games.
“She didn’t want to play with the women. No, no, no. She wanted to play with the guys,” Johnson said. “Coop and I looked up and said, ‘Lisa is going at them.’ She kind of dominated these dudes out there.”
Cooper said Leslie would arrive early to work on post moves, including moves associated with James Worthy, Johnson and Hakeem Olajuwon.
“The uniqueness about Lisa Leslie was that she would just use those moves and work on them. She used them in a game,” Cooper said.
Leslie retired in 2009 and went on to build a career in business and broadcasting. She has remained connected to women’s basketball and has developed mentorships with younger players.
Watching the Game Grow
Leslie said she is proud of the growth of women’s basketball and the increased attention the sport receives today.
“I’m a proud mom watching them,” she said. “I’m so proud of where the women’s game is.”
Leslie credited the fans who supported women’s basketball from the beginning but said the dream was always for the sport to reach a much larger audience.
“The dream was always that we hoped that everybody across the board could see us, could see the beauty in us, could see the strength in us, could see our hard work and our resilience,” she said.
“Today, they see it. They see it in a big way. We have the support that I had always hoped for.”
For Leslie, the statue represents more than a career filled with championships, records and firsts. It stands as a permanent reminder of a player who helped open doors for generations of women who followed.