Every time Dearica Hamby substitutes out of a game or goes into a timeout, she tells Rae Burrell the same thing:

Stay ready.

“She’s playing behind two of the best guards in this league, so it’s very hard to find consistent minutes, especially with the format of the league,” Hamby said. “… But I try to remind her every game, because for me, I’ve been a role player. I’ve been that player that wanted to fight for more and felt like they deserved more.”

And on Feb. 21, Burrell got the opportunity she had been waiting on ever since she signed to Unrivaled, the three-on-three women’s basketball league started up by WNBA players Napheesa Collier and Breanna Stewart. Vinyl Basketball Club, the team featuring Burrell and Hamby, had blown a fourth quarter lead to the Mist. Hamby immediately got the lead back on a fast break layup and from there, Burrell took over.

She went coast-to-coast off the inbound, slashing her way to the rim and hitting a floater. During the next possession, Burrell froze her defender with a head fake that opened up just enough space for her to lay it up. Then, she drained a three. Hamby tried to ice the game with a layup on the Vinyl’s ensuing possession, but her shot banked off the glass and bounced off the front of the rim. The Mist’s Stewart ran the floor, but her layup attempt rimmed out and landed right into the hands of Hamby, who launched a perfectly placed pass from one free throw line to the other for Burrell’s ninth consecutive point — the game winner.

“I just feel like that was like the perfect ending to the game,” Burrell said. “Especially because I feel like I was hitting her throughout the game, and then for her to give me that assist to my first win in Unrivaled as well, it was a special moment for me.”

Hamby assisted Burrell on the final three scores of that game, a testament to how much the chemistry between the two Sparks teammates has grown during the offseason. But there’s also something deeper there: a friendship that predates their time with Unrivaled and the Sparks.

Before being traded to the Sparks in 2023, Hamby was a member of the Las Vegas Aces and she’d occasionally cross paths with Burrell, a Las Vegas native who at the time was a five-star high school recruit.

“She was always just kind of around, but we didn’t have a relationship,” Hamby recalled.

Burrell would go on to star at the University of Tennessee for four years before being drafted ninth overall by the Sparks in the 2022 WNBA draft. Once Hamby was acquired by the Sparks a year later, the two still weren’t close but would carpool on drives back to Vegas. In the event that only one of them was making the four-hour trip, they’d ask each other for favors such as taking their dog with them.

Hamby says the friendship really began to take off last season, when she lived three doors down from Burrell in team housing and they began spending a lot more time together.

“I can’t give you like a pinpoint moment,” Hamby said. “But we’ve just kind of gravitated towards each other.”

Vinyl wing Rae Burrell, center, tries to slip past pressure from Lunar Owls forward Napheesa Collier, left, and wing Allisha Gray during their Unrivaled semifinal game on March 16 in Medley, Fla.

(Rebecca Blackwell / Associated Press)

The two also lived near each other at Miami-based Unrivaled, which has brought them even closer. Hamby sometimes popped in on Burrell’s workouts. Burrell often visited Hamby and her two kids at her apartment. Hamby typically cooked — spaghetti and meatballs is one dish that Burrell name dropped — while Burrell baked cookies.

That chemistry carries over onto the court. Burrell loves running the pick-and-roll after learning to read where Hamby’s going to be and what moves she likes to get to. Hamby’s also constantly communicating on the floor, telling Burrell when to wait, when to come off a screen, when to stay on it or when to pass.

“The thing about Dearica, she never stops talking,” Burrell said. “So when I’m on the floor with her, it’s just great because she’s always just communicating what play she wants to be run. It’s just very easy to play with her.”

Burrell refers to Hamby as her mom on the team. She’s always going to her for advice, and Hamby always seems to know when to nurture and when to light a fire under Burrell.

During the offseason, the two spent anywhere from three to five hours a day together in the gym, with Burrell eager to learn from the Olympian and three-time WNBA All-Star. But beyond the Xs and O’s, Hamby has focused on showing Burrell how to navigate the professional basketball world. She noted that Burrell — entering just her fourth WNBA season — has already dealt with a season-ending injury, being cut from training camp, playing on a hardship contract and signing a multi-year contract.

“She’s kind of gone through every process that she can as a pro,” Hamby said. “[I’m] just trying to just keep reminding her that her moment’s coming, and that we’re going to rely on her a lot. And I would say being able to kind of see her in a different element at Unrivaled has shifted my perspective.”

It’s not just the flashes of potential and confidence from Burrell that have impressed Hamby. It’s also her work ethic, how seriously she approaches the offseason. It’s her willingness to change her shot and being strict about her diet, which Hamby says even she hasn’t done during her career. It’s how Burrell’s always in the gym first thing every morning and never missing a workout, even if she was “still being her silly self late at night.”

And for as much as Hamby has helped Burrell’s development as a young player, the inverse is also true: Burrell has been instrumental in Hamby’s growth as a leader. Hamby said her leadership style has always been more empathetic and nurturing because she’s a mother, but she’s shied away from having tough conversations because she didn’t want to hurt anyone. But she’s been forced to have those conversations with Burrell, even if they’re uncomfortable, because of the care and respect they have for each other.

Sparks guard Rae Burrell celebrates after scoring against the New York Liberty at Crypto.com Arena on Aug. 28.

(Ashley Landis / Associated Press)

“There was a couple days we didn’t speak,” Hamby said. “But you know, we came back together and it was like, ‘OK, look.’ And I said, ‘You know, this is what I meant. And like, I want the best for you, so like, I’m standing on that.’ And she was very receptive. And I think it was just a very critical moment for both of us, for different reasons.”

Kelsey Plum played with Hamby for six seasons in Las Vegas and when the two reunited this offseason after the Sparks traded for Plum, one of the first things she noticed was Hamby’s growth.

“You can see it just in the way you talk to her and her interactions,” Plum said. “And someone like Rae is super fortunate to be able to have Dearica, because she’s so loving and nurturing. As a young player, what a gift to have a player like that, that is a perennial All-Star, but takes the time to care about your day-to-day.”

Sparks assistant coach Zak Buncik, who’s also an assistant coach for the Vinyl, sees it too.

“They’re around each other all the time. It’s kind of like the W, like they’re staying in the same hotel. They’re around each other every day,” he said. “They just lean on one another.”

Hamby and Burrell are excited about what the upcoming WNBA season holds.

In addition to the Plum trade, the Sparks signed free agents Emma Cannon, Mercedes Russell and Shaneice Swain. The team will also be running a new offense under new coach Lynne Roberts, which Hamby is excited about.

Hamby’s also looking forward to seeing how Burrell’s confidence carries over back into the WNBA. She fully believes that Burrell can be a solid sixth woman — if not a full-time starter — on this year’s squad, and she foresees a lot more than that down the line.

“When I had that talk with her, I said, ‘You know, in two to three years when you’re an All-Star, you’re gonna look back and you’re gonna thank me,’” Hamby said. “I think when her number’s called though, either way she’s going to be ready.”