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 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.”

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.”