What she built at USC and then with the Los Angeles Sparks was proof of what women's basketball could be at its highest level. She was one of the first three players signed by the WNBA in 1996 as it prepared to launch. She won four Olympic gold medals, two WNBA championships and three MVP awards. And in 2002, she issued the first dunk in WNBA history — smashing the glass ceiling of the game. A fierce competitor in the paint, on her own time she loved fashion, and worked with designers on runways or appearing on magazine covers. She refused the implicit expectation that female athletes should keep their femininity separate from their athletic identity.

Off the court she earned a business degree and became a broadcaster and part-owner of an Athletes Unlimited team. She has spoken openly about wanting to own a WNBA franchise. The through-line across all of it is the same quality that defined her on the court — an absolute refusal to accept a smaller version of what was possible. Her mother drove trucks across the country so her daughters could have options. Lisa Leslie used every one of them, and created a lane for the generation to follow.