Los Angeles Sparks Eased One Big Concern But Many More Still Remain
One story dominated the early discourse around the Los Angeles Sparks: Cameron Brink’s lack of playing time in a blowout loss to the Las Vegas Aces. The 2024 lottery pick only played eight minutes and didn’t attempt a single shot. It raised some questions about Brink’s fit with a franchise that wants to win now when she clearly still needs time to develop after missing most of her first two seasons with an ACL tear.
The Sparks’ second game of the season eased some of the concerns around Brink. She played 19 minutes and recorded 11 points, 5 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal, and 3 blocks. She needs to keep producing like that to completely lay any concerns about her future with the Sparks to rest, though, and the Sparks have many other issues to deal with.
Two games into the season, the Sparks don’t look like the contender they so desperately want to be.
The Sparks aren’t off to a great start
Every move the Sparks have made since last offseason was about bringing the team back to contention as quickly as possible. Trading draft assets for Kelsey Plum and Rickea Jackson for Ariel Atkins and signing Nneka Ogwumike in free agency were all win-now moves. And yet, despite the veteran talent on this roster, the Sparks haven’t looked great to start the season.
The Aces beat them by 27 points in the first regular-season game, and the Indiana Fever built a 21-point lead that the Sparks eventually cut to nine but couldn’t overcome. Not being able to compete with two of the early title favorites for 40 minutes doesn’t spark a lot of optimism about Los Angeles’ ability to be one of the top teams in the league this year.
Since it’s still so early in the season, the Sparks deserve the benefit of the doubt (for now). Three of their six most important players, including two starters, are new additions. They may just need some more time to build chemistry and figure out how to best use Ogwumike and Atkins next to Plum and Dearica Hamby.
The Sparks average the most turnovers in the league right now with 19. That should improve as players get more familiar with each other. The Sparks are also only shooting 23.9% from three. Atkins, who is usually a solid 3-point shooter, is 0-7 to start the season. That should also work itself out eventually.
Other issues won’t be fixed as easily. Defense was the Sparks’ biggest weakness last season, and it hasn’t improved yet. They have the second-worst defensive rating in the league right now. They cannot keep opponents from scoring in the paint, they struggle to guard in transition, and they are allowing opponents to shoot 56.1% from the field. The Aces and Fever are great offensive teams, but those are the kind of challenges the Sparks will have to overcome if they want to compete.
After just two games, it’s not time to panic quite yet, but the Sparks’ early defensive effort is definitely a red flag.
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Elaine Blum covers women’s basketball for On SI from Europe. She has been writing about women's hoops since 2023 and holds a Bachelor’s degree in English and Journalism and a master’s degree in American Studies with a focus on women’s and gender studies. She started playing basketball when she was 10 years old and won several league and state championships at the youth and senior level.