Lisa Deshaun Leslie-Lockwood Biography, Life, Interesting Facts

Lisa Deshaun Leslie-Lockwood is a former American basketball player born on July 7, 1972. Lisa Deshaun Leslie-Lockwood was a professional player who played in the Women National Basketball Association, WNBA. During her active career, Lisa Deshaun Leslie-Lockwood was named WNBA MVP three times and won four Olympic gold medals and was elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Lisa Deshaun Leslie-Lockwood is currently pursuing modeling and aspiring actress and a sports commentator and analyst for sports networks like NBC, ABC and Fox Sports Net.

Lisa Deshaun Leslie-Lockwood has achieved several feats like being setting the record at Pac- 10 and winning National Player of the Year 1994. Lisa Deshaun Leslie-Lockwood was part of the WNBA 20@20 when it was marking its 20th anniversary in 2016.

Early Life

Lisa Deshaun Leslie-Lockwood was born to Christine Lauren Leslie and Walter Leslie. Her dad was a semi-professional basketball player and mother a truck driver. Lisa Deshaun Leslie-Lockwood has three other siblings. Leslie height and physic spoke for her that one day, Lisa Deshaun Leslie-Lockwood was going to be a prominent basketball player. Growing up, she played in both men and female basketball teams. During her middle high school education in California, Lisa Deshaun Leslie-Lockwood joined the basketball team after persuasion from a classmate. That time she stood at 6’1 and was involved in tetherball and double Dutch.  Leslie’s aspiration that that was to become a Tv whether reporter.

Lisa Deshaun Leslie-Lockwood participated in basketball from then and learned how to use her right hand since she was a lefty and later became ambidextrous. Lisa Deshaun Leslie-Lockwood was transferred to a junior high school and joined the school's boys’ basketball team since it had no girls team. In 1986, Lisa Deshaun Leslie-Lockwood started her high school education at Morningside High School, Inglewood, California even though she gained several other offers from the likes of Division I programs at the University of Tennessee and Standford University. Whiles at Morningside High School, she announced her strong presence in the basketball team and started in each game for the varsity team.

Lisa Deshaun Leslie-Lockwood also participated in other sports team like the volley and athletics. Her impressive basketball play talent and skills earned her the top scorers and rebounder of her team leading the team to the California state championship in 1989. Her diligence and enticing skills were noticed which gained her a place in the USA Junior Championship team.

After her high school education, Lisa Deshaun Leslie-Lockwood attended the University of South California from 1990-1994 and graduated with a bachelor degree in communication. In 2009, she graduated with a Masters of Business Administration at the University of Phoenix. Her days at the University of South California was that of record settings and breaking. In all she played in about 120 games with an average point of 20.1 points, hitting 53.4% of her shots, and knocking down 69.8% of her free throws. That was when she made a new Pac-10 conference record with an accumulated point of 2,414 points, 1,214 boards, and 321 blocked shots. She led her team to win the Pac-10 conference championship. She won several honors including the Rockie of the Year Award in 1991, National Player of the Year, 1994 and several others.

WNBA Career

Leslie’s WNBA career started with Los Angeles Sparks in 1997 helping the team to play in the five consecutive playoffs. The team later won the WNBA title in 2001, and Lisa Deshaun Leslie-Lockwood became the Sportswoman of the Year. With an impressive play in the following year, Lisa Deshaun Leslie-Lockwood made a record of becoming the first woman to dunk a ball in WNBA game. The records had just started as she also became the first WNBA player to reach a 3000, 4000, 6000 and 10000 career points. Lisa Deshaun Leslie-Lockwood was also instrumental in Spark winning its second straight WNBA championship. Lisa Deshaun Leslie-Lockwood retired from active basketball in 2009 with the record of 6,263 points, 3,307 rebounds and PRA of 10,444.

National Team

At age 17, Lisa Deshaun Leslie-Lockwood was named a member of the USA Basketball Women Junior National Team as the youngest member. Her first participation in the team was at second Junior World Championship in Bilbao, Spain, in 1989. The team ended at seventh place after a poor start in the opening game with South Korea. Lisa Deshaun Leslie-Lockwood was part of the team during the World University Game, in Sheffield, England, 1991.

Her performance was impressive and ended up with an average of 13.0 points, and the team eventually won the gold medal. Her other participation in the National team was in 1992 when they won Gold in Taipei, four appearances in the Olympic games with four medals. Leslie graduated from the US junior national team to the national women's basketball team. There, she won gold in the 1996 and 2000 and a world championship. Lisa Deshaun Leslie-Lockwood was also the youngest player in the USA Olympic Trial in 1992. 

Personal Life

Lisa Deshaun Leslie-Lockwood got married to a commercial real estate developer and pilot, Micheal Lockwood on November 5, 2005. Lisa Deshaun Leslie-Lockwood has since had two children Lauren Jolie Lockwood born on June 15, 2007, and Micheal Joseph Lockwood II born on April 6, 2010. Lisa Deshaun Leslie-Lockwood is a strong Christian, and according to her, Lisa Deshaun Leslie-Lockwood has always put her faith and goals in the hands of the Lord. Lisa Deshaun Leslie-Lockwood believes her existence and achievements are through the grace of the God.

Awards

Lisa Deshaun Leslie-Lockwood won career awards like three MVP’s, two WNBA Titles, five All-WNBA First team, four All-WNBA second team, five-time All-Star Games and two times in All-Decade Team, All-Defensive First Team and All-Defensive Second Team.

After Retirement

After her retirement from WNBA, Lisa Deshaun Leslie-Lockwood has been involved in several activities like fashion modeling and aspiring to become an actress. Lisa Deshaun Leslie-Lockwood has been featured in Vogue and Newsweek. He has also served as sports commentator and analyst for ESPN, Fox Sports Net, ABC, and NBC. On television shows, she has been a guest on Sister Siste, The Game and One on One and Superstar. Lisa Deshaun Leslie-Lockwood has appeared in episodes of The Jersey, The Simpsons and featured in the movie Think Like a Man among others. Her current role was in The New Celebrity Apprentice which she announced herself in 2016.