LOS ANGELES – The 2026 WNBA season may not have gone the way the Los Angeles Sparks hoped it would, but they’re looking to end the year on a high note. There are multiple franchise celebrations on their schedule amid the last few games, which began on Sunday with former star Lisa Leslie getting a statue on Star Plaza outside Crypto.com Arena, the first Sparks player to receive that honor.

During a live taping of her podcast, ‘Between The Lines,’ the Friday night before the unveiling, Lisa Leslie revealed that she was first approached by the Sparks regarding a statue back in 2020. The ensuing COVID-19 pandemic put that temporarily on hold, but those plans were finally realized this past Sunday before the Sparks’ home game against the Portland Fire.

Lisa Leslie's statue outside of Crypto Arena is officially revealed 🤩

Leslie is the first LA Sparks player to have a statue outside Star Plaza!

(via @Dave_Yapkowitz) pic.twitter.com/CStayri3rM

— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) September 20, 2026

Leslie collaborated closely with the designers regarding the statue’s image, and once she saw the finished product, it was everything she hoped it would be, and more.

“It’s like, they’re so used to making mens’ statues … I wanted it to look like me. I am beyond happy with how beautiful the ‘First Lady’ looks because they listened to me. She’s got her lipstick on, she has on earrings, she has my family’s names on my bracelets … she’s ginormous, but it’s gorgeous and I just love that she has her ponytail and when little girls walk around and get a chance to see it, they see a woman, the ‘First Lady’ statue out there,” Leslie gushed during a press conference with assembled media.

Leslie was originally selected by the Sparks during the WNBA’s initial allocation draft in 1996, ahead of the league’s inaugural 1997 season. She played her entire career with the franchise until her retirement in 2009. During her tenure, she helped lead the organization to back-to-back WNBA championships in 2001 and 2002.

She was a three-time MVP and two-time Defensive Player of the Year. She was selected to an All-WNBA team each season of her 12-year career, and was named to eight All-Star selections.

The former Morningside High School star was just a couple of years older than Sparks head coach Lynne Roberts, a high school basketball star in her own right, when she scored 100 points in a single game during her prep career. Roberts recalls reading about the feat in a local newspaper in Northern California where she grew up, as her earliest introduction to the future WNBA legend.

“That’s when I was made aware of Lisa Leslie, and it just like, ‘wow.’ And obviously a great career in college and she’s the original Spark. It’s cool that she’s gonna get a statue, and some may say it’s about time,” Roberts said following Sparks’ practice the day before the statue ceremony. “It’s just an honor to be a part of it, and what an ambassador she’s been for this game and for women’s basketball. Just such a personality in our sport. She is one of the original ones that put women’s basketball, professional women’s basketball, on the map.”

Leslie’s career overlapped with Candace Parker’s Sparks tenure, but she had retired by the time the franchise drafted its current star in Nneka Ogwumike. The Sparks selected the former Stanford star with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2012 WNBA Draft, and Ogwumike surpassed Leslie this season on the franchise’s all-time scoring list.

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An ambassador of the game herself, serving as the longtime WNBPA president and credited for playing a crucial role in the historic CBA that was ratified this past year, Ogwumike has incorporated aspects of Leslie’s game and mindset into her own illustrious career.

“She had a very disciplined mindset, but also had standards that she put upon herself when she was competing, and that’s something that she’s talked to me about and I’ve kind of incorporated into how I approach the game,” Ogwumike said following the Sparks’ win against the Fire on Sunday. “Understanding that not every day is going to be the same, but there’s certain things that you don’t have to be coached to do and can affect the game.

“That’s something I always try and lean on, understanding that the work is always there. Sometimes the shots don’t fall, sometimes things don’t go your way, but you can still be impactful in the game and give that effort and that competitive edge every single night no matter what the circumstance is.”

Leslie holds career averages of 17.3 points, 9.4 rebounds, 2.4 assists, 1.4 steals and 2.3 blocked shots with splits of 47 percent shooting from the field, 31.6 percent shooting from the 3-point line and 69.5 percent shooting from the free-throw line.

She’s been inducted into the Naismith Hall of Fame twice, the first coming in 2015 as an individual player and the second this year as part of the 1996 Team USA gold medal-winning roster.  And she’s now only the second WNBA star to receive a statue, the first being Seattle Storm guard Sue Bird.

But as distinguished as her basketball career was, she always wanted to be remembered for more than that. And with this statue, with the likeness, she hopes people will do just that. As the Sparks’ introduced her during her ceremony, she’s the franchise’s ‘First Lady.’

“That just means so much to me. If anybody who knows me, and you guys heard so many speeches about me, but to be a role model was always one of my hopes. I wanted to be seen,” Leslie said. “I wanted people to see that I could do more than just play basketball and put the ball in the basket.

“I wanted them to see that I could speak very well, that I could make people feel better and inspired. And I wanted them to see that yes, I played basketball, but I am still a girl. My mom always said, ‘you’re born a female, but it’s a choice to be a lady.’ And I wanted to make the choice to be a lady at all times.”