Basketball phenom Lisa Leslie will be the first woman athlete honored with a statue on the Star Plaza outside of the Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles.
The two-time WNBA champion and the first woman to dunk, will be immortalized on a date not yet set.
“We look forward to sitting down with Sparks ownership to negotiate a new lease for the 2020 WNBA season and beyond,” Lee Zeidman, president of Staples Center, Microsoft Theater and LA Live, told the LA Times. “In addition, we plan to discuss the timing and placement of a permanent statue at Staples Center honoring one of the great all-time WNBA players, Lisa Leslie.”
Leslie started with the Sparks in the WNBA's inaugural draft in 1997 and played her entire career with the team through the 2009 campaign. She won three league MVPs, two championships, four Olympic gold medals, and three All-Star Game MVPs during her iconic career, according to the Bleacher Report.
Leslie was named to eight All-Star teams, 12 All-WNBA teams, and averaged 17.3 points, 9.1 rebounds and 2.3 blocks per game during her career.