Former Sparks star Lisa Leslie latest to be granted this arena honor

When it comes to the greatest players in franchise history for the Los Angeles Sparks, Lisa Leslie sits atop the list at No. 1, and later this WNBA season, she will be honored by the team with a statue outside of Crypto.com Arena.

The Sparks announced plans on Thursday to unveil a statue honoring Lisa Leslie prior to their home game against the Portland Fire on Sept. 20. That game is the Sparks’ penultimate home game, and third to last game overall in the regular season.

The move is significant in that Leslie will be the first Sparks player to receive a statue outside the arena. The Sparks’ NBA neighbors, the Los Angeles Lakers, have multiple statues in Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Jerry West, Elgin Baylor, Pat Riley, Shaquille O’Neal, Kobe Bryant and even legendary broadcaster Chick Hearn.

Leslie is one of three Sparks players to have their jerseys retired inside the arena alongside Candace Parker and Penny Toler.

Leslie was initially acquired by the Sparks in the 1997 WNBA allocation draft ahead of the league’s inaugural season. The allocation draft was done by the league itself and sought to assign players to their geographical location. Leslie was a star at nearby Morningside High School and then in college at USC.

She played her entire 12-year career with the Sparks, only sitting out the 2007 season while on maternity leave. Leslie is the franchise’s all-time leading scorer, eight-time All-Star, three-time MVP and two-time Defensive Player of the Year. She was the driving force behind the Sparks’ back-to-back championships in 2001 and 2002.

Leslie holds career averages of 17.3 points, 9.1 rebounds, 2.4 assists, 1.4 assists and 2.3 blocked shots with splits of 47 percent shooting from the field, 31.6 percent shooting from 3-point range and 69.5 percent shooting from the free-throw line.

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