The Top 5 All Time Sparks Scorers
The Los Angeles Sparks are one of the starriest franchises in WNBA history. L.A. has been to five WNBA Finals, winning three, with contributions from some of the best players to ever lace up sneakers.
The club has enjoyed two dynastic stints with three all-time frontcourt superstars, and is now in the midst of its first true rebuild in a while as it builds together an intriguing new core.
Los Angeles traded to reunite three-time former Las Vegas Aces All-Stars Kelsey Plum and Dearica Hamby this offseason. Plum joins an exciting core that, beyond Hamby, also includes promising second-year players Rickea Jackson and Cameron Brink. Additionally, the Sparks boast the No. 9 pick in this year's draft.
The team recently hired former Utah Utes head coach Lynne Roberts, the 2023 Pac-12 Coach of the Year, to guide it into a next wave of deep playoff runs.
So what better time than now to look back and take stock of the past greats who have built the Sparks brand into what it is: one of the premiere franchises in the league.
More Los Angeles Sparks: Sparks Forward Cameron Brink Unpacks How Kelsey Plum is Impacting Her Career
Here are the Sparks' top scorers ever.
1. Lisa Leslie (6,263 Career Sparks Points)
The USC product was always destined for greatness.
Two years removed from college, the 6-foot-5 Gardena native was selected by her hometown Sparks during the WNBA's inaugural 1997 Allocation Draft. She instantly set the league on fire and guided the Sparks to three WNBA Finals, winning in 2001 and 2002. She was named the WNBA Finals MVP in both those appearances.
Unlike many legends on this list, Leslie played only for the Sparks during a 13-year pro career (although she missed the entirety of the 2007 season while on maternity leave). She was an eight-time All-WNBA First Teamer, and four-time All-WNBA Second Teamer, a four-time All-Defensive Teamer, and an eight-time All-Star. She was also a three-time league MVP and a two-time Defensive Player of the Year.
Her No. 33 jersey was retired by USC, and her No. 9 jersey hangs in the rafters for Sparks games.
Across 363 career regular season contests, she holds averages of 17.3 points on .470/.316/.695 shooting splits, 9.1 rebounds, 2.4 assists, 2.3 blocks and 1.4 steals a night.
2. Nneka Ogwumike (5,883 Career Sparks Points)
The 34-year-old remains an All-Star and All-WNBA talent — unfortunately, now it's for the Seattle Storm. The Sparks selected the 6-foot-2 forward with the No. 1 pick in the 2012 WNBA Draft out of Stanford. When paired with the No. 3 all-time scorer in Sparks history (and, from 2019-23, her little sister Chiney), Ogwumike was one of the most dynamic two-way players in the game.
Alongside Candace Parker and Plum and Hamby's eventual Aces teammate Chelsea Gray, Ogwumike guided Los Angeles to consecutive WNBA Finals appearances in 2016 and '17. L.A. won it all in 2016, but came just short of defending its crown against the Phoenix Mercury the next year.
CHILLLLL CANDACE 🥵 @Candace_Parker
— WSLAM (@wslam) August 29, 2019
via @LA_Sparks pic.twitter.com/ZQFy0VsLU5
During her Sparks tenure from 2012-23, Ogwumike averaged 16.5 points on .545/.361/.838 shooting splits, 7.5 boards, 2.0 dimes, 1.5 steals and 0.6 blocks per bout. She was a six-time All-WNBA honoree, an eight-time All-Star, a six-time All-Defensive Teamer, and the league MVP in 2016.
When all is said and done, Ogwumike's legacy in Los Angeles lore will be secure. If Parker's jersey is being retired, Ogwumike's absolutely will, too.
3. Candace Parker (5,684 Career Sparks Points)
The 6-foot-4 Tennessee power forward/center was another blockbuster No. 1 overall pick by L.A.
Parker was sort of a proto-Anthony Davis, a big who could bring the ball up the floor, pass and shoot jumpers as well as defending like a maniac in the post.
More Los Angeles Sparks: Sparks Retiring Candace Parker's Jersey — What We Know
Unlike Leslie or Ogwumike, Parker was instantly the best player in the WNBA, winning MVP honors and making the All-WNBA First Team as a rookie in 2008.
Across her 13 seasons in Los Angeles, Parker averaged 16.9 points on .482/.337/.761 shooting splits, 8.6 rebounds, 3.9 assists, 1.6 blocks and 1.3 steals per contest.
She won two MVP honors in L.A., claimed the aforementioned 2016 title, and was named the Defensive Player of the Year during her 2020 swan song season with the franchise. Parker made five of her seven All-Star teams and eight of her 10 All-WNBA squads during her L.A. stint.
Parker won everywhere she played. She led her hometown Chicago Sky to a championship as a No. 6 seed during her first season there, in 2021, and subsequently won a championship on a loaded Las Vegas Aces squad in 2023 — although she was injured for the second half of that particular season, which wound up being her last.
4. DeLisha Milton-Jones (4,018 Career Sparks Points)
The 6-foot-1 forward out of Florida made one of her two career All-Star teams and claimed a pair of titles during her Sparks tenure next to Leslie.
Milton-Jones spent her first six pro seasons with Los Angeles before linking up with the Washington Mystics in 2005. She then returned to the Sparks in 2008, and stayed with the Parker-era squad through the 2012 season.
She also finished among the top eight recipients in Defensive Player of the Year voting four times during her two Sparks stints.
Milton-Jones averaged 11.2 points on a .470/.359/.770 slash line, 6.0 rebounds, 1.8 assists, 1.5 steals and 0.9 blocks during her first six seasons with Los Angeles. In her next five-season run with the Sparks, Milton-Jones averaged 12.2 points while slashing .448/.328/.816, 5.0 rebounds, 2.2 assists, 1.1 steals and 0.5 blocks a night.
5. Mwadi Mabika (3,480 Career Sparks Points)
A 5-foot-11 guard who first played pro for Dominican Republic club Tourbillon Kinshasa from 1991-97, Mabika played alongside Leslie during the WNBA's first season in 1997, stayed with the franchise through 2007, as another core contributor to that halcyon 2002-03 championship run. She was named to two All-Star teams with L.A. and was honored as an All-WNBA First Teamer.
Mabika also finished among the top 13 in MVP voting twice during her tenure with Los Angeles.
Mwadi Mabika picture perfect (2004)
— Vintage WNBA (@WNBA_vintage) November 28, 2020
Sparks vs Comets pic.twitter.com/twL6IgfNbs
In her 11 seasons with the Sparks (she wrapped up her career with the Houston Comets in 2008), Mabika logged averages of 10.9 points on .387/.329/.802 shooting splits, 4.0 rebounds, 2.4 assists, and 1.1 steals a night.
For the latest Los Angeles Sparks news and notes, stay glued to Los Angeles Sparks On SI.
Currently also a scribe for Newsweek, Hoops Rumors, The Sporting News and "Gremlins" director Joe Dante's film site Trailers From Hell, Alex is an alum of Men's Journal, Grizzlies fan site Grizzly Bear Blues, and Bulls fan sites Blog-A-Bull and Pippen Ain't Easy, among others.