For over two decades, the area outside Crypto.com Arena has been reserved for Los Angeles’ sports legends. Magic Johnson, Kobe Bryant, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and numerous legendary figures were honored with statues in the iconic Star Plaza. But now, Lisa Leslie is joining them, drawing a reaction from Fever GM Amber Cox.

Hall of Famer Lisa Leslie will now be immortalized with a bronze monument in Star Plaza. This makes her the first WNBA player to receive a statue outside Crypto.com Arena. Cox reacted to the announcement on X.

“I was just walking around the LA arena before the game yesterday thinking there was a void without a statue for Lisa,” Cox wrote, quoting the Sparks’ post, which announced Lisa Leslie’s statue unveiling. “She deserves to be recognized amongst all the other great LA sports legends.”

Lisa Leslie herself could not hide her pride. “To be cemented in Los Angeles, the city that raised me. I couldn’t be more proud to be a role model forever,” the 53-year-old said in a statement. She received this recognition after dedicating her entire career to giving everything she had to the sport and its community.

“God has blessed me and I have truly given my all to this sport and our community,” she added. “I am thankful to my coaches, teammates, incredible fans, and, most importantly, my family and friends.”

A journey that started with her having to play on a boys’ basketball team because there was no girls’ basketball team at her middle school. She showed out anyway, and her dominance became so undeniable that she already had more than 100 college scholarship offers before even stepping into high school at Morningside.

That high school career eventually turned into a legendary one, beginning with an unbelievable 101 points scored in just the first 16 minutes of play for her team. And by the time she was leaving for college after her four years, Leslie had led the Morningside Lady Monarchs to a staggering 125-9 overall record.

They won back-to-back California State Championships in 1989 and 1990. She then unanimously won the 1990 Naismith Award as the nation’s top high school player, alongside a long list of other accolades and achievements.

Following her legendary high school run, Lisa Leslie stayed in Los Angeles to play for the University of Southern California Trojans from 1990 to 1994. That turned into another legendary chapter of her career. Over her four-year collegiate run, Leslie completely rewrote the conference record books.

A total of 2,414 points, 1,214 rebounds, and 321 blocks to set both USC and Pac-10 career records. She also guided the Trojans to a Pac-10 Conference Championship. And she became the first player in Pac-10 history to earn First-Team All-Conference honors in all four years of her college career, alongside another long list of accolades and achievements.

And when the WNBA took off in 1997, the league leaned heavily on three flagship players to build its identity and brand: Sheryl Swoopes, Rebecca Lobo, and Lisa Leslie.

As the hometown centerpiece of the Los Angeles Sparks, Leslie did not just participate in the league’s growth; she became the competitive benchmark for the fledgling organization. And across the 12 seasons she spent in the WNBA with the Sparks, it became record after record and accolade after accolade year after year.

She led the Sparks to back-to-back WNBA Championships in 2001 and 2002. She also won the Finals MVP award in both title-winning seasons, and the regular season MVP award three times. And perhaps one of the most impressive accomplishments of all, Leslie guided the franchise to the postseason in 11 of her 12 active seasons in the league.

Across that dominant stretch, she was also an 8× WNBA All-Star. She made All-WNBA First Team selection 8X, and was 2× WNBA Defensive Player of the Year, among a host of other accolades and achievements.

Lisa Leslie also set many historic firsts throughout her legendary career. She became the first player in WNBA history to score 6,000 career points, eventually finishing with 6,269 total points. She was also the first WNBA player to reach 3,000 career rebounds, finishing with 3,307.

In 2002, she became the first player in league history to win the Regular Season MVP, All-Star MVP, Finals MVP, and the WNBA Championship all within the same season. One of her most iconic firsts came when she became the first player ever to dunk in a WNBA game.

With a career as legendary as Lisa Leslie’s, she undoubtedly deserves a place among the pantheon of Southern California sports greatness. Plans to build her a statue were considered as early as 2019. However, administrative hurdles and pandemic-related delays slowed the process down. 

Perhaps, though, that only helped set the stage for an even more historic moment now, arriving during the WNBA’s 30th anniversary era and at a time when the league continues to break new ground commercially, culturally, and in overall development. And fittingly, one of the players who helped lay the foundation for that growth will now stand permanently among Los Angeles sports immortality.

Inside Crypto.com Arena’s Iconic Statue Tradition and How Lisa Leslie’s Historic Unveiling Will Unfold

The tradition of immortalizing athletes outside Crypto.com Arena has existed for more than 25 years now. In fact, the tradition of tributes was born alongside the arena itself. It started after the venue officially opened in 1999, with the first statue in Star Plaza honoring LA Kings icon Wayne Gretzky.

Since then, they have constructed a total of 15 statues outside the arena. However, they were all dedicated to male sports figures who shaped Los Angeles athletics’ legacy. Lisa Leslie will officially break that barrier. The Hall of Famer will now become the first female athlete ever to receive a dedicated statue in Star Plaza, with her official unveiling ceremony scheduled for September 20, 2026.

Specifically, Leslie’s unveiling ceremony will take place on Sunday, September 20, 2026. The event is going to take place before the Los Angeles Sparks face expansion franchise Portland Fire. Leslie’s sculpture will officially become the 16th monument placed in the plaza.

While Lisa Leslie will become the first WNBA player honored outside Crypto.com Arena, she will also become the second player in league history to receive that recognition. The Seattle Storm also previously honored Sue Bird with a franchise statue.

It is a moment that feels personally symbolic for Leslie and for the continued evolution and visibility of women’s basketball. One of the WNBA’s foundational stars, who helped build it from the ground up, will now stand among the greatest sports icons Los Angeles has ever celebrated.