Cal Alum & Activist Layshia Clarendon Retires After 12-Year WNBA Career

Clarendon led the Bears to the 2013 Final Four and was outspoken on LGBTQIA+ and racial justice issues

Layshia Clarendon knocks the ball from the hands of an opponent. / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

Layshia Clarendon, who led Cal to a berth in the 2013 Women’s Final Four and was an historic player in the WNBA as the league’s first openly transgender and nonbinary player, announced Friday they are retiring after a 12-year professional career.

Clarendon, 33, averaged 7.6 points, 3.2 assists and 2.7 rebounds in the WNBA and was a 2017 All-Star.

"I'm very proud of my 2017 All-Star," Clarendon said. "I wanted to be an All-Star in this league and I proved that to myself. I'm also really proud of the relationships I built with people and the integrity with which I moved in the sport.”

Clarendon, who uses she/her, he/him, and they/them pronouns, announced the news on Instagram, and told ESPN it was time.

"I've done a lot of healing in my life the last five years. It was just the culmination of my mind, my body and my spirit telling me that it was time to move on,” Clarendon said. “I just had a deep knowing in my intuition that now is the right time, and I had a really open heart and readiness to let go.”

Clarendon, who played the past two seasons with the Los Angeles Sparks, had not suited up since Aug. 15. But in the Sparks’ season opener, Clarendon delivered a triple-double.

"Layshia has made a huge impact on and off the court throughout their outstanding basketball career," Sparks coach Curt Miller said in a statement. "Lay was a true professional, showing up each day with a desire to help our teams compete and improve. ... Off the court, Lay is a trailblazer and impacted so many with their bravery to be authentic and unapologetic while consistently fighting for the marginalized.”

Layshia Clarendon hs 38,000 followers in Instagram / Instagram

Clarendon’s work as an activist speaking out on LGBTQIA+ inclusive policies in the WNBA and for racial justice will outlive their basketball achievements. 

Through it all, Clarendon said they always felt supported by fans.

"Fans were also a light for me," Clarendon said. "So much of this healing work is reciprocal. As much as I was the one to step out on a limb, I felt really caught and held by the queer fan base in the W. That was really beautiful, so thank you.”

Former Cal coach Lindsay Gottlieb, who coached Clarendon in Berkeley, said her former player should get credit for helping sculpt the WNBA.

"The way the W looks and feels right now is largely a testament to the people that have been doing the work," said Gottlieb, now the coach at USC. "And there's no one more important in that realm than Layshia.”

The video above is from a 2021 interview I did with Clarendon where we talked about a range of topics, including George Floyd's killing by a Minneapolis police officer the year before and the ensuing conviction.

Among Clarendon’s achievements: 

— In 2016, Clarendon was elected as the first vice president of the Women's National Basketball Players Association.

— During the 2020 bubble season, Clarendon and New York Liberty teammates wore "Trans Lives Matter" shirts, although Clarendon still hadn't publicly shared their gender identity. That changed after the season, when Clarendon shared that they were nonbinary and transgender.

— They helped negotiate the WNBA's 2020 collective bargaining agreement, featuring salary increases, improved travel accommodations an support for players who are parents.

— It was Clarendon's idea, ESPN said, to dedicate the 2020 season to the "Say Her Name" campaign. Along with that, Clarendon drew up the rudimentary plans to put "Black Lives Matter" on the court for that season.

At Cal, Clarendon helped lead the 2012-13 Bears to a 32-4 record, the Pac-12 title and a first-ever run into Final Four. Cal lost 64-57 to Louisville in the national semifinals.

In five NCAA games, Clarendon averaged 21.4 points, 4.0 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 2.0 steals while shooting 42 percent from the 3-point arc.

The 5-foot-9 guard averaged 16.4 points as a senior that season and totaled 1,820 points over a 142-game career with the Bears.