De'Erica Hamby was ejected in the fourth quarter of the Los Angeles Sparks' game against the Connecticut Sun on Aug. 22 after officials upgraded the foul to a flagrant 2 on review. The decision came with 8:39 left in regulation, and it automatically removed Hamby from the game.
The sequence mattered because it came after the Sparks had already been officially eliminated from playoff contention on Aug. 20, following a 124-88 loss to the Atlanta Dream. Even so, the matchup in Connecticut still produced a late-game flashpoint that drew immediate attention.
Why Hamby was ejected
On the play, Hamby swung her arm back and struck Raegan Beers in the head. Officials then reviewed the contact and changed the ruling to a flagrant 2, the kind of call that leads to an ejection.
That is the key point: it was not simply a common foul or a routine stoppage. Once the review reached flagrant 2, the game could not continue with Hamby on the floor.
What happened to Raegan Beers?
Connecticut announced that Beers would not return because of a jaw injury. The injury added to the significance of the play, turning a late fourth-quarter incident into the central moment of the game.
For the Sparks, the result of the season had already been decided, but the incident still became part of the broader conversation around a team that has had to play on after elimination. Hamby’s rebound trend headlines Sparks Vs Sky meeting in Chicago, but this was the moment that defined Aug. 22 in Connecticut.
The ruling after review
The officials' final decision was a flagrant 2, which is an automatic ejection. That left Hamby out for the closing stretch and made the review the decisive part of the sequence.
In a game that had already lost its postseason implications for Los Angeles, the fourth-quarter call ensured the final word belonged to the review room and the injury concern around Beers rather than the score line alone.
