Changing Of The Guard

On Sunday, as the WNBA began a monthlong break for the Olympics, San Antonio was in first place in the Western Conference, and Hammon was averaging 17.4 points and 4.7 assists. "You never truly understand her beauty as a basketball player," says Silver Stars coach Dan Hughes. "If I'm coaching a basketball team for the highest stakes, I want that player on my team."

Hammon has nurtured her Olympic dream for years. During her senior year in high school, she and her parents drove nine hours from Rapid City to Minneapolis for the women's Final Four, and at a Fan Fest function she got some court time with '96 Olympians Lisa Leslie, Dawn Staley and Sheryl Swoopes. But a torn right ACL suffered in June 2003 kept her from getting a shot at the 2004 Olympics. It wasn't until 2006 that she was asked to participate in a three-game European tour with Team USA. She played sparingly and wasn't invited back.

She continued to put out feelers to USA Basketball but didn't get much encouragement. So when she got the surprise offer in the spring of 2007 to play for CSKA Moscow in the WNBA's off-season, she took it. She then got her Russian passport early this year. (Hammon has no ancestral ties to the country but was eligible because she had never appeared for another nation in a FIBA-sanctioned event.) From a financial standpoint, an international passport holds significant benefits for a U.S. player because several leagues limit the number of Americans per team. With dual citizenship, a player can skirt those limits, giving him or her added value in the marketplace.

After her near-MVP performance with San Antonio in '07, Hammon was invited to reenter the Team USA pool but declined the invitation as it would've been a breach of her CSKA contract and likely jeopardized her Russian citizenship application. Yet she would've risked it all, Hammon says, if she believed Team USA had a genuine interest. "It was going to be hard for her to make the team," Donovan concedes, "but not impossible. Spots were still up in the air to be grabbed and to be fought for, and she certainly could've been one of those players."

But to characterize the U.S. roster as fluid, Hammon says, "would be like saying an undrafted free agent has just as good an opportunity of making the L.A. Sparks as [overall No. 1 pick] Candace Parker did. I've just never been one of the girls, and that's O.K. It's not my journey."

AS SHE wrestled with whether to play for Russia, she was mindful of the repercussions it could have for her family back in the heartland. When relatives gave her their blessing, Hammon was on her way to Beijing.

There, she'll strengthen a position that has been historically weakest for the Russians. Her high-energy leadership and unselfish playmaking are ideally suited to the fast-paced, wide-open international game. This is a particular concern to USA Basketball this year, because the Russians were silver medalists at the last women's world championships, in 2006, having beaten the U.S. in the semifinals before losing to Australia in the final.

The uproar that would be created if Hammon helps defeat Team USA would no doubt make the pre-Olympic controversy pale in comparison. But Hammon is undaunted. "I'm proud to be an American," she says, "but I'm also proud that Russia would embrace and accept me. Medal or no, they've given me the opportunity to remind people what the original Olympic spirit is all about—unity."