Lisa Leslie

Lisa Leslie

Leslie in December 2010
Personal information
Born	(1972-07-07) July 7, 1972 (age 44) Gardena, California
Nationality	American
Listed height	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)
Listed weight	170 lb (77 kg)
Career information
High school	Morningside (Inglewood, California)
College	USC (1990–1994)
WNBA draft	1997 / Allocated
Selected by the Los Angeles Sparks
Playing career	1997–2009
Position	Center
Number	9
Career history
1997–2009	Los Angeles Sparks
Career highlights and awards
2× WNBA champion (2001, 2002) 2× WNBA Finals MVP (2001, 2002) 3× WNBA MVP (2001, 2004, 2006) 8× WNBA All-Star (1999–2003, 2005, 2006, 2009) 8× All-WNBA First Team (1997, 2000–2004, 2006, 2008) 4× All-WNBA Second Team (1998, 1999, 2005, 2009) 2× WNBA Defensive Player of the Year (2004, 2008) 2× All-Defensive First Team (2006, 2008) 2× All-Defensive Second Team (2005, 2009) WNBA Peak Performer (2004) WNBA's Top 15 Players of All Time (2011) WNBA Top 20@20 (2016) WNBA playoffs all-time blocks leader
Stats at WNBA.com
Basketball Hall of Fame as player
Women's Basketball Hall of Fame
Medals Representing  United States Olympic Games 1996 Atlanta National Team 2000 Sydney National Team 2004 Athens National Team 2008 Beijing National Team World Championships 1998 Germany National Team 2002 China National Team World University Games 1991 Sheffield Team Competition Jones Cup 1992 Taipei Team Competition

Lisa Deshaun Leslie (born July 7, 1972) is a former American professional basketball player who played in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). She is a three-time WNBA MVP and a four-time Olympic gold medal winner. The number-seven pick in the 1997 inaugural WNBA draft, she followed her career at the University of Southern California with eight WNBA All-Star selections and two WNBA championships over the course of eleven seasons with the Los Angeles Sparks, before retiring in 2009. Leslie was the first player to dunk in a WNBA game. In 2011, she was voted in by fans as one of the Top 15 players in WNBA history. In 2015, she was elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

Leslie is the daughter of Christine Lauren Leslie, who stood 6 ft 3 in, and Walter Leslie, a semi-professional basketball player. Christine started her own truck driving business to support her three children. Walter left the family when her mother was four months pregnant with her. Leslie has two sisters: Dionne, who is five years older, and Tiffany, who is eight years younger. She also has a brother, Elgin, who is now the Carondelet high school basketball coach. Lisa played basketball on an all-boys basketball team in middle school. She also played on an all-girls team with the record 33-1.

By the time Leslie was in middle school in California, she had grown to over 6'1" but never participated in athletic activities besides tetherball and double Dutch. Her dream then was to be a television weather reporter.

During the first few weeks of middle high, a classmate begged Leslie to help out 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 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.