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Sparks' Legend Earns Hall of Fame Induction, Joins Sue Bird and Sylvia Fowles in 2025 Class

A former WNBA Champion earned the well-deserved honor among a plethora of women's basketball legends on Saturday.
Ben Geffner|
Women's Basketball Hall of Fame Inductee, Alana Beard, gives her remarks during the 2025 Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony at the Tennessee Theatre, June 14, 2025, in Knoxville, Tenn. (Shawn Millsaps/Special to News Sentinel)
Women's Basketball Hall of Fame Inductee, Alana Beard, gives her remarks during the 2025 Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony at the Tennessee Theatre, June 14, 2025, in Knoxville, Tenn. (Shawn Millsaps/Special to News Sentinel) | Shawn Millsaps / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Former Sparks' guard-forward Alana Beard was officially inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame's Class of 2025 on Saturday at the Historic Tennessee Theater in Knoxville, Tennessee

Beard was honored alongide basketball greats Sue Bird, Mark Campbell, Danielle Donehew, Sylvia Fowles, Lucille Kyvallos and Cappie Pondexter, per a release.

Read more: Sparks' Rickea Jackson Provides Strong Response Following Injury 

The 5-foot-11 guard-forward averaged 11.3 points, 3.4 rebounds and 2.5 assists across 420 WNBA games — a professional basketball career spanning from 2004 to 2019. She was a four-time league All-Star, nine-time All-Defensive Team honoree and secured back-to-back Defensive Player of the Year awards in both 2017 and 2018.

Furthermore, she helped the Sparks to their 2016 WNBA Championship title — the franchise's third league crown.

Prior to the WNBA, she left Duke as the program's all-time leading scorer with 2,687 points. Beard led the Blue Devils to four straight ACC titles and back-to-back Final Four appearances.

Read more: Caitlin Clark Returns From Injury in Advance of Huge Matchup Against Sparks

"One thing that I enjoy more than anything is watching these young women step into their power and owning that," Beard, who retired in 2020, told the Knoxville News Sentinel. "For so long as athletes, we were told to focus on one thing.

"You'll get distracted if you look left or right . . . and not be as successful as you can be. But these young women understand that there is so much more to gain," she added.

More Sparks news:

A'ja Wilson Speaks Out on Losing Kelsey Plum to Sparks

Sparks' Kelsey Plum Reacts to Georgia Amoore's ACL Injury

International Legend Reveals Reason For Rejoining LA

Sparks Waive Two Players Ahead of 2025 Season

Sparks’ Cameron Brink Revisits Feeling After Tearing ACL

For more news and notes on the Los Angeles Sparks, visit Los Angeles Sparks on SI.

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Ben Geffner
BEN GEFFNER

Ben Geffner is an award-winning sports journalist and current student at the University of Maryland's Philip Merrill College of Journalism. A greater Los Angeles native now with countless years of extensive and dedicated experience — including beat reporting, writing, play-by-play broadcast, television anchoring, podcasting and video production — Ben remains eager to contribute as credentialed media covering the LA Sparks.

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