Portrait of Lisa Leslie

Birthday profile

Lisa Leslie

Lisa Leslie, American basketball player and actress

Born
July 7, 1972
Age in 2026
54
Zodiac sign
Cancer
Birth year
1972

About Lisa Leslie

Lisa Deshaun Leslie (born July 7, 1972) is an American former professional basketball player. She is formerly the head coach for Triplets in the BIG3 professional basketball league, as well as a studio analyst for Orlando Magic broadcasts on FanDuel Sports Network Florida. In 2002, Leslie made history as the first player to dunk during a Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) game. Leslie was ranked 5th on ESPN.com's 2021 list of the WNBA's greatest players of all time. Leslie played in the WNBA for the Los Angeles Sparks from 1997 to 2009. She is a three-time WNBA MVP and a four-time Olympic gold medal winner. The number-seven pick in the 1997 inaugural WNBA draft, she followed her career at the University of Southern California with eight WNBA All-Star selections and two WNBA championships over the course of 11 seasons with the Los Angeles Sparks, before retiring in 2009. In 2011, she was voted in by fans as one of the Top 15 players in WNBA history. All throughout her WNBA career, Leslie also played for USA Basketball in international competition, winning four Olympic gold medals (1996, 2000, 2004, 2008) and two FIBA World Championships (1998, 2002). In 2015, Leslie was inducted into both the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame. Upon becoming coach of the Triplets in 2019, she led the team to the BIG3 Championship that year. In 2022, Leslie got inducted into the FIBA Hall of Fame. During the first few weeks of middle school, a classmate asked Leslie to help out the basketball team. She played on an all-girls team with the record 33–1.

Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.

Lisa Leslie timeline

  1. In 2002, Leslie made history as the first player to dunk during a Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) game.
  2. Leslie was ranked 5th on ESPN.com's 2021 list of the WNBA's greatest players of all time.

The world when Lisa Leslie was born

Lisa Leslie was born in 1972. The year snapshot below places that birthday in its cultural and historical setting: the music and films people were following, the headlines shaping public life, and the everyday prices families encountered.

Culture in 1972

  • #1 song"The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" – Roberta Flack
  • Top movieThe Godfather
  • Top TV showAll in the Family
  • Best-selling bookJonathan Livingston Seagull – Richard Bach

Headlines and milestones

  • Major sports momentMark Spitz wins 7 gold medals at Munich Olympics
  • Top headlineWatergate break-in begins Nixon's downfall
  • Technology milestoneAtari founded
  • Defining fadPong (first mainstream video game)
  • Notable inventionPong video game
  • World population3.85 billion

United States snapshot

  • U.S. leaderRichard Nixon
  • Sports championOakland Athletics (World Series)
  • Also wonLos Angeles Lakers (NBA)
  • U.S. population209.9M

1972 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in Lisa Leslie's birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure19722026
Gas$0.36$3.45/gal
Average home$19,800$435,000
Average income$12,600$67,500
Minimum wage$1.60$7.25/hr (federal)
Movie ticket$1.70$11.95
Postage stamp$0.08$0.73
Population209.9M341 million

Sources and editorial standards

This profile combines a biographical source with structured birthday and historical context. Sources recorded for this profile: Wikipedia, IMDb. See our editorial policy for sourcing, corrections, and review standards.

Read the source biography on Wikipedia. Wikipedia text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.