Lisa Deshaun Leslie (born July 7, 1972, in
GardenarightThe company Gardena AG located in Ulm is a manufacturer of gardening tools with approximately 2,800 employees worldwide thereof 1,600 in Germany and an annual turnover of 393 million euros...
,
CaliforniaCalifornia is the most populous state in the United States, and the third largest by area. California is the second most populous sub-national entity in the Americas, behind only São Paulo, Brazil...
) is a retired American professional women's basketball player in the
WNBAThe Women's National Basketball Association is a women's professional basketball league in the United States. It currently is composed of thirteen teams. The league was founded in 1996 as the women's counterpart to the NBA...
for the
Los Angeles SparksThe Los Angeles Sparks is a Women's National Basketball Association team based in Los Angeles, California. Founded in 1997, the Sparks are one of the eight original WNBA teams. Also one of the teams that participated in the league's inaugural game, the Sparks are the sister team of the Los Angeles...
. She is a three-time WNBA
MVPIn sports, a Most Valuable Player award is an honor typically bestowed upon the best performing player or players on a specific team, in an entire league, or for a particular contest or series of contests...
and a four-time Olympic gold medal winner. The number seven pick in the 1997 WNBA draft, she followed a superb career at the
University of Southern CaliforniaThe University of Southern California is a private, nonsectarian, research university located in the University Park neighborhood in Los Angeles, California, USA...
with seven WNBA All-Star appearances and two WNBA championships. A 6'5" forward, Leslie is the first player to dunk in a WNBA game.
Considered a pioneer and cornerstone of the league during her eleven-year WNBA career, Leslie announced her retirement effective at the end of the 2009 season on January 4, 2009.
Lisa Deshaun Leslie (born July 7, 1972, in
GardenarightThe company Gardena AG located in Ulm is a manufacturer of gardening tools with approximately 2,800 employees worldwide thereof 1,600 in Germany and an annual turnover of 393 million euros...
,
CaliforniaCalifornia is the most populous state in the United States, and the third largest by area. California is the second most populous sub-national entity in the Americas, behind only São Paulo, Brazil...
) is a retired American professional women's basketball player in the
WNBAThe Women's National Basketball Association is a women's professional basketball league in the United States. It currently is composed of thirteen teams. The league was founded in 1996 as the women's counterpart to the NBA...
for the
Los Angeles SparksThe Los Angeles Sparks is a Women's National Basketball Association team based in Los Angeles, California. Founded in 1997, the Sparks are one of the eight original WNBA teams. Also one of the teams that participated in the league's inaugural game, the Sparks are the sister team of the Los Angeles...
. She is a three-time WNBA
MVPIn sports, a Most Valuable Player award is an honor typically bestowed upon the best performing player or players on a specific team, in an entire league, or for a particular contest or series of contests...
and a four-time Olympic gold medal winner. The number seven pick in the 1997 WNBA draft, she followed a superb career at the
University of Southern CaliforniaThe University of Southern California is a private, nonsectarian, research university located in the University Park neighborhood in Los Angeles, California, USA...
with seven WNBA All-Star appearances and two WNBA championships. A 6'5" forward, Leslie is the first player to dunk in a WNBA game.
Considered a pioneer and cornerstone of the league during her eleven-year WNBA career, Leslie announced her retirement effective at the end of the 2009 season on January 4, 2009. Entering that season she is #2 all-time in the WNBA in total rebounds and rebounds per game, and #1 in total blocks and blocks per game.
Early years
Leslie is the daughter of Christine Lauren Leslie, who started her own truck driving business to support her three children, of whom Lisa Leslie is the second. The elder Leslie stood 6 ft 3 in. Leslie has two sisters: Dionne, who is five years older, and Tiffany, who is eight years younger.
High school
By the time Leslie was in middle school, she had grown to over 6 feet 1 /> but never participated in athletic activities besides tether ball and
double dutchDouble Dutch may refer to:* Double Dutch , a children's game* Double Dutch , a language game primarily used in English* Double Dutch , a writing style used by John O'Mill...
. Her dream then was to be a television weather reporter.
During the first few weeks of junior high, Leslie was asked to join the basketball team. On her first day of basketball tryouts, team members were told to split into two groups for layup drills: lefties and righties. Leslie was the only lefty in the "lefty" group, so from then on, she decided to become right-hand dominant so she would not have to stand in a line by herself. That decision worked to her advantage, as she became ambidextrous.
In eighth grade, she transferred to a junior high school without a girl's basketball team, and joined a boy's basketball team. Her success there contributed to her confidence in her playing abilities.
At 14, before Leslie had even started high school, she received more than a hundred college recruiting letters, including some from top
Division IDivision I is the highest level of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association in the United States....
programs at the
University of TennesseeThe University of Tennessee , sometimes called the University of Tennessee, Knoxville is a public land-grant university headquartered at Knoxville...
and
Stanford UniversityThe Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university located in Stanford, California, United States...
.
Leslie continued her education in 1986 by enrolling at
Morningside High SchoolMorningside High is a public high school in Inglewood, California. The school mascot is a Monarch. The school colors are currently scarlet and white. The Monarchs motto is, "Knowledge is Power." MHS students, known as Monarchs, sing the Alma Mater:...
in
Inglewood, CaliforniaInglewood is a city in southwestern Los Angeles County, California, southwest of downtown Los Angeles. It was incorporated on February 14, 1908. In 2006, its population was estimated at 129,900. The city is in the South Bay region of the greater Los Angeles area...
. She made an immediate impact on the basketball program, starting every game for the girl's varsity team. She also found time to join the volleyball team and compete in track and field. She ended up being a state qualifier in the 400-meter run and the high jump.
By the time she was a sophomore in high school, she was able to dunk the ball in the open court, even though she was not able to palm the ball. She was her team's leading scorer and rebounder and led them to the 1989 California state championship. Leslie was so talented that she was invited to participate in the USA's Junior World Championship team. Entering her senior year, she developed into the top player in the country. Again, she led her team to a state championship averaging 27 points and 15 rebounds per game.
101-point game
It was a tradition of Morningside High's basketball coach Frank Scott to arrange to have a star player attempt to break the single game scoring record each year. In 1990, Leslie was his star and he purposely chose a game with the struggling South Torrance Spartans for her attempt to beat Cheryl Miller's record of 105. After a humiliating half for the Spartans, the score was 102–24, with Leslie scoring all but one of the Morningside points; her team giving her all the shooting opportunities. She never crossed half court and remained firmly underneath her team's basket—also known as "cherry picking." Two foul outs and an injury had reduced the Spartans from seven players to four and they chose to forfeit the game rather than return for the second half. Hoping to break the record, Leslie asked the Spartan coach to continue long enough for her to break the record but he declined. The referees allowed her to shoot four "technical" fouls claiming "delay of game" due to the forfeit. She made the shots, which would have tied the record had they not been subsequently nullified.
The reaction to the game was strong and widespread. The Torrance team called it audacious and "local media and angry callers to talk shows [decried Morningside's] ... lack of decorum in destroying an overmatched foe." Coach Scott regretted his actions in hindsight and vowed to discontinue the tradition. The game is still talked about today, and Leslie continues to tell the story when asked.
College
Leslie decided to stay close to home and attend women's basketball powerhouse the
University of Southern CaliforniaThe University of Southern California is a private, nonsectarian, research university located in the University Park neighborhood in Los Angeles, California, USA...
from 1990–1994. She completed her time at USC with a bachelor's degree in communications and eventually completed her master's degree in business administration from the
University of PhoenixThe University of Phoenix is a private for-profit institution of higher learning. As the university with the largest student body in North America, it has a current enrollment of 420,700 undergraduate students and 78,000 graduate, or 224,880 full-time equivalent students. The school was founded...
.
Her college basketball career was spectacular. Leslie played in a total of 120 college games, averaging 20.1 points, hitting 53.4% of her shots, and knocking down 69.8% of her free throws. She set the PAC-10 conference records for scoring, rebounding, and blocked shots accumulating 2,414 points, 1,214 boards, and 321 blocked shots. She also holds the USC single season record for blocked shots in a single season (95).
During her college career, USC compiled an impressive 89–31 record. They won one PAC-10 conference championship and earned four NCAA tournament appearances. Leslie was honored with All PAC-10 recognition all four years, as well as becoming the first player in PAC-10 history to obtain first team all four years and earn the prestigious Rookie of the Year award in 1991.
Leslie was also honored on the national platform by earning the National Freshman of the year in 1991, and recognition as the nation's best female basketball player earning the National Player of the year in 1994. In 1992, 93, and 94, she earned All-American Honors as well. She competed with
USA BasketballUSA Basketball is a non-profit organization and the governing body for basketball in the United States. The organization represents the United States in FIBA and the men's and women's national basketball teams in the United States Olympic Committee...
as a member of the 1992 Jones Cup Team that won the Gold in
TaipeiTaipei is the largest city in Taiwan and has served as the de facto capital of the Republic of China since the Chinese Civil War in 1949. It is situated on the Danshui River, almost at the northern tip of the island, about 25 km southwest of Keelung, its port on the Pacific Ocean...
for the first time since 1987.
WNBA
1996 was the golden year in women's basketball. It marked the year when Women's National Basketball Association (professional basketball) was incorporated. 1997 is when the official league games started to play. Leslie was drafted on January 22 as one the top picks to the Los Angeles Sparks team, and is still competing in the league. She helped the Sparks make the playoffs five consecutive times, but the team was never able to win a championship until the 2001 season when the Sparks won the WNBA title. That year, Leslie was named the 2001 Sportswoman of the Year (in the team category) by the Women's Sports Foundation.
In 2003, Leslie became the first woman to dunk the ball in a WNBA game. That same year she became the first WNBA player to score over 3,000 total career points and contributed to the Sparks winning their second straight world championship that season. Two seasons later, she became the first player to reach the 4,000-career point milestone. Leslie remains the Sparks' career scoring and rebounding leader, as well as the all time league leader in rebounds.On 11 August, 2009, Leslie became the first player to score 6,000 points in a career.. Earlier that month she was the first player to reach 10,000 career PRA (points + rebounds + assists), a statistic which the WNBA "Pick One Challenge" fantasy game is based upon, and as of 2009 holds the league records for points (6,263), rebounds (3,307) and PRA (10,444).
Lisa is now retired.
| WNBA award |
years |
| MVP |
2001, 2004, 2006 |
| WNBA Titles |
2001, 2002 |
| Finals MVP |
2001, 2002 |
| All-WNBA First Team |
1997, 2000–2004, 2006 |
| All-WNBA Second Team |
1998, 1999, 2005 |
| All-Star Game MVP |
1999, 2001, 2002 |
| All-Star Games |
1999–2003, 2005, 2006, 2009 |
| All-Decade Team |
1997–2006 |
| Defensive Player of the Year |
2004, 2008 |
| All-Defensive First Team |
2006 |
| All-Defensive Second Team |
2005 |
| Player of the Week |
14 (league record) |
International and Olympic
Leslie has made four consecutive Olympic appearances, and has earned four gold medals. She was the second female basketball player ever to earn that many gold medals, after Theresa Edwards. Leslie has also made appearances with the United States national women's basketball team where she won gold medals in 1996 and 2000, and has also earned a world championship.
Leslie is one of seven USA Basketball's three-time Olympians, and one of two players with four gold medals. She led the U.S. team in scoring during the 2004 Olympic Games. During her third Olympic completion, she became the USA's all-time leading scorer, rebounder, and shot blocker in Olympic competition. Every time she has competed in a major international event, she has compiled double-digit scoring averages. Leslie, at age 20, was also the youngest player to participate at the USA Olympic Trials in 1992.
During the 2008 Beijing Olympics medal awards, despite being requested by officials not to, Leslie wore her gold medals from 3 past Olympics whilst being awarded her teams current win. Leslie's actions were viewed by members of the Australian national team, her opponents in the gold medal game, as grandiose and poor sportsmanship.
Leslie has had a fierce rivalry with Lauren Jackson ever since the 2000 Olympics, when the Australian star ripped out Leslie's hair extensions during a game.
Off the court
Leslie has one daughter with her husband, Michael Lockwood. In 2007, she took a year's leave from professional basketball for a pregnancy. Her daughter, Lauren Jolie Lockwood, was born June 15, 2007. After having the baby, Lisa got back in shape and returned to the WNBA for the 2008 season.
Leslie is also a fashion model and an aspiring actress. She has been on
ESPNESPN is an American cable television network dedicated to broadcasting and producing sports-related programming 24 hours a day....
numerous times and has been a guest star on several top hit shows such as
Sister Sister,
The JerseyThe Jersey is a television series produced by the Disney Channel and based on the Monday Night Football Club books by Gordon Korman...
,
The Game, and
One on OneOne on One is an American sitcom that aired on the now-defunct UPN. The series stars Flex Alexander as a single sportscaster, who becomes a full-time dad when his ex-wife decides to accept a job out of the country and his teenage daughter moves in with him. The series was based in Baltimore and in...
. She has also acted in a variety of commercials. Early in her career she signed a modeling contract with the Wilhelmina modeling agency. Lisa also was on the show, "
SuperstarsSuperstars is an all-around sports competition that pits elite athletes from different sports against one another in a series of athletic events resembling a decathlon...
," and she and her partner, David Charvet, took 3rd place after David injured his wrist.
External links